
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



nv^^»^^^Aw= 




O.SS.R. 



Blessed Snes'of li 



Bl. Clement Maria Hofbauer, C.SS.R.; Bl. Louis 

Marie Grignon de Montfort ; Bl. Brother 

Egidius Mary of St. Joseph ; Bl. Sister 

Josephine Mary of St. Agnes, O.S.A. 



Translated froiy the German of 
Rev. H:KRN1-A.1SIISI KONEBKRG, O.S.B., 

BY 

Eliza A. Donnelly. 



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COPYR/GHT- %^ 

OCT 8 18P8 ^ V 

VVAr 

New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: /? 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 

— i^^^-- /^tf 



Ths LontARY 

OF CONGBSgt 

WMuamnm 






Copyright, 1888, by Benziger Brothers. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface - - 

Blessed Clement Maria Hofbauer. 
I. A Glorious Spring-tim^. 
II. God helps him Further. 

III. He Becomes a Redemptorist. 

IV. In Germany. . - - . 
V. Clement is Imprisoned. 

VI. In the Imperial City on the Danube. 
VII. A Preacher who Strengthened the 
Faith of his Hearers. - 
VIII. His love for the Blessed Virgin Mary 
IX. True Fraternal Love. - 

X. Extraordinary Graces. 
XI. His Death and Funeral. 
XII. Glorious after Death. 

Blessed Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. 
I. His Youth up to Ordination. 
II. His Active Life. - -. - - 

III. From Nantes to Rouen. 

IV. To the Tomb. . - . - 
V. Peace Reigns over his Tomb. 



page: 

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II 

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IS 
19^ 

2S 
27 

31 

39 
4S 

55 
61 
68 
76 

81 

81 

98 

109 

III 

US 



.4 Contents. 

PAGE 

Blessed Egidius of St. Joseph. - - 121 

I. His Birthplace and Early Youth. - 122 

II. In the Convent. _ . « 125 

III. The Saint in Public. - - . 128 

IV. Strong in Hope and ardent in Love. - 132 
V. Genuine Fraternal Charity. - - 135 

VI. Humble of Heart. - - - - 139 

VII. Egidius, the Perfect Religious. - 141 

VIII. A Peaceful Departure. - - - 145 

Blessed Josephine Mary of St. Agnes of 

Beniganim. 149 

I. A Chosen Soul from Youth up. - 149 
II. Innocent as the Dove. Glowing with - 

Divine Love. - - - - 161 

III. The Three Vows. - - - 170 

IV. Filled with Love for her Neighbor. - 1 75 
V. Faithful unto Death. - - - - 180 



PREFACE. 



The year 1887 had a peculiar significance 
for all Catholics, from the fact that it brought 
with it the golden jubilee of the priesthood of 
our deeply loved and highly venerated Pon- 
tiff, Leo XIII. On that occasion four new 
stars appeared in the firmament of the Church 
and sent forth their brilliant, kindly rays into 
the dark places of the earth. It is of these 
four servants of God, whom the Vicar of 
Christ recently enrolled in the calendar of 
the Blessed, that I now wish to speak to 
you, my beloved Catholic people. Long ere 
this they have been in the possession of God^ 
in the kingdom of His glory, but it is only 
from the date of their beatification that we 
are permitted to honor them publicly as His 
chosen ones. The greatest dignity to which 
a human being can be elevated is to be hon- 
ored and venerated as a saint upon the altar 
of God. 



6 Preface. 

What is the most vaUant general, the most 
illustrious orator, the most delightful poet, 
the most celebrated painter, in comparison 
with the least of God's saints ? Of course, 
no saint can really be called insignificant, but 
many of them may appear so in the sight of 
the children of this world. The judgment of 
men is of no account to us, but rather that of 
the Church, which is governed by the Holy 
Ghost, the source of all truth and wisdom. 

There lived in my large parish a very aged 
woman, whose days and nights were full of 
sorrow. A year ago I showed her a picture 
of the Blessed Clement Hofbauer. Oh! what 
joy it was! She forgot all her miseries and 
became quite jubilant, shedding tears of de- 
light. ^' Yes," exclaimed this good squI, 
^' that is indeed the saintly Father Hofbauer! " 
She never wearied talking about him, and 
relating facts of his wonderful Christian 
charity, especially for children and for poor 
sinners. She could remember short prayers 
which he had taught her and the other children 
to recite, and yet she had been only one year 
under his religious training, and was at that 
time but nine or ten years old. She also told 
me that Father Hofbauer frequently distrib- 



Preface, 7 

uted printed prayers, which the children 
always prized as souvenirs and venerated as 
precious relics. 

During the twenty-five years of my pastor- 
ate in Babenhausen, several old people told 
me: " I made my last general confession to 
the saintly Father Clement Hofbauer; many 
other youths did the same; his sermons usual- 
ly moved his hearers to make general confes- 
sions." I am the Benedictine mentioned in 
Rev. Michael Haringer's Life of Father Hof- 
bauer. I had the happiness of being ques- 
tioned about the Saint, by our late Holy 
Father Pius IX., and I have always con- 
sidered that the sweetest moment of my re- 
ligious life. I have, therefore, a certain 
right to relate what I know of this good man. 

As to the other three saints, I have merely 
extracted and translated these little sketches, 
from French, Italian, and Spanish authors, 
whom I believe to be thoroughly trustworthy. 

Let us animate our fervor by contemplat- 
ing the ardent love of Our Lord manifested 
by these holy souls, and glorify God, who is 
so great in His saints. These blessed souls 
have added a new glory to their native land 
by their elevation to the altars of the Church. 



8 Preface. 

This is especially true of Germany and Aus- 
tria, where our holy faith has been so long 
and so grievously persecuted, but where it 
has been so gloriously crowned by the super- 
natural courage and constancy of the first 
German Redemptorist. Thousands, stimu- 
lated by the great example of their country- 
man, remained steadfast, holding firmly to their 
faith, and bravely battling for it to the end. 

Virtue has a universal language. One may 
not understand the vernacular of the friends 
of God, — but he can at least understand the 
language of a holy life. Listen then to the 
lessons of these saintly lives, and strive to 
imitate these blessed ones in their practice of 
the three theological, the four cardinal, and 
the seven acquired virtues. Choose them for 
your special patrons and recommend your- 
selves, and me also, to their holy intercession. 

Greeting you in the names of Jesus, Mary, 
and Joseph, in the spirit of purest friendship, 
I now conclude. You and I and all who 
read this book share in the communion of 
saints; we all can and must become holy. 
What is it to be a Christian and not a saint ? 

Consider this before you read any further. 
Rev. H. Koneberg. 



I Element Marm Srfbamr. 




L A Glorious Spring-time. 

LEMENT MARIA HOFBAUER 
was born on St. Stephen's day, De- 
cember 26, 175 1, in the village of 
Tasswitz, near Znaim, in Moravia. He was 
baptized the same day by the chaplain of the 
neighboring monastery of the Premonstraten- 
sians at Bruck, and received the name of 
John. His father, a pious and industrious 
man, was a butcher, as well as a farmer and 
vintner. He died at the age of forty-seven, 
when our Clement was just six years old. 
His pious mother then led her orphan boy to 
the foot of a crucifix and, showing him the 
image of his crucified Lord, said these signifi- 
cant words : " Behold Him who is now your 
Father ! Strive ever to walk in the way which 
is most pleasing to Him ! " 

These words remained indelibly engraved 
on the memory of the holy child. ' In later 



12 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

years, he often spoke of his great happiness, 
in having had such pious, God-fearing parents. 
He always mentioned his mother with special 
reverence, since she had trained him with so 
much love and wisdom. She understood how 
to ignite m his soul the slumbering sparks of 
godliness and enkindle them into a mighty fire. 

Even as a very young child, he had a sin- 
gular love for the blessed Mother of God, 
and one of his greatest joys was to fast on 
Saturdays in her honor. He. did nothing 
without the permission of his mother, thus 
early learning to subdue his self-will. The 
food which he saved from his own portion, as 
well as such small pieces of money as were 
given him, he distributed among poor chil- 
dren. His -mother made it a point never to 
commend him for this, but, on the contrary, 
always preserved towards him a stern and 
grave manner. 

From childhood, he was fond of prayer, and 
prayed well and devoutly. He was especially 
attracted to the holy Rosary, a devotion after- 
wards so dear to him, and by which, as a 
priest, he gained so many victories. He was 
often heard exhorting his brethren and those 
of his religious family to pray ; his favorite 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 1 3 

abiding-place was before the tabernacle. He 
once heard a relative say : " Let us do this to 
pass away the time! " The eight-year-old boy 
gave this wise rejoinder: " If you have noth- 
ing else to do, you ought to pray! " Child 
as he was, he never failed to be loved and re- 
spected by all who knew him. All the virtues 
which we admire in the man, were then to be 
found in him, as it were, in the bud. 

Although his family owned a vineyard, he 
could never be induced to drink wine. He 
was already too mortified to indulge in it. 

Up to his sixteenth year, he remained at 
home as his mother's favorite child. Then, 
he desired to consecrate himself to the relig- 
ious state, but alas! he lacked the means. 
Finally, he concluded to learn the trade of a 
baker. To this end, in March, 1767, he left 
his mother, in order to apprentice himself in 
Znaim. He took with him a profound knowl- 
edge of his holy religion, a sweetness of dis- 
position, an affability and courtesy which soon 
gained him the affection of all his associates. 
The little five-year-old son of his master' be- 
came specially attracted to him and wanted to 
be with him all the time. When serving the 
customers with bread, in order to lose no 



14 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

time, he would 'bear the child upon one arm^ 
and the bread basket upon the other, and thus 
he would hurry through the streets of the 
town. *^ Look, there goes a second St. Chris- 
topher," many would jestingly exclaim, where- 
at the humble baker's boy would sigh in his 
heart: *^ O, that I were indeed St. Christopher 
and might carry my Saviouj- in my hands! " 

At the end of three years, Clement came 
to the monastery of Bruck as a young 
assistant. The abbot Gregory esteemed him 
so highly that he appointed him his own 
attendant, and permitted him during his 
leisure time to study in the school attached to 
the monastery. This he did joyfully and with 
admirable results. But, in the year 1775, the 
good Abbot Gregory died, and Clement 
quitted the convent, feeling no call to the 
Order of St. Norbert. • Since he could no 
longer pursue his studies, he determined to 
become a recluse. 

A half hour's distance from his birth-place 
is the village of Miihlfrauen. The beautiful 
church at this place possesses a miraculous 
image of Our Saviour's flagellation at the 
pillar, which is visited by many, even up to 
the present time. Near the church is a mag- 



BL Cle^nent Maria Hofbauer, 1 5 

nificent forest, in which Clement built himself 
a hermitage, with a little garden attached. 
There he established himself and spent many 
happy hours. Pilgrims to the adjacent 
shrine gladly visited him and were edified by 
his piety and his salutary admonitions. 
Sometimes he would distribute Httle crosses 
among them, dragging on his own shoulders 
a very heavy cross, that they might visit 
the miraculous image in the church in a true 
spirit of penance. He produced a powerful 
impression upon all who came in contact with 
him. 

II. God helps him further. 

At the end of a year, Clement had to re- 
nounce his blessed and agreeable solitude. 
The enlightened government, under the rule 
of the Emperor Joseph II., having decided 
that the life of a hermit is useless, all hermit- 
ages were abolished. This was a severe blow 
to our holy youth. 

i\fter a short stay in Budweis, in Moravia, 
where he learned the Bohemian language, the 
providence of God led him to Vienna. Here 
he worked in a bakery known as '^ The Iron 
Fear.'* This house was directly opposite to 



1 6 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

the Ursuline Convent, in whose church, a few 
years later, Clement so often and so joyfully 
distributed the Bread of Life. 

Before long, our good young baker con- 
cluded to make a pilgrimage to Rome. To 
accomplish this, he induced his fellow-work- 
man, Peter Kunzmann, to accompany him. 
They put together a little money, and sold 
some of their clothing, which, according, to 
the custom of that place, was adorned with 
silver buttons. 

The entire journey was accomplished on 
foot. They prayed aloud and sang pious 
canticles all along the roads and in the towns 
and villages. The scorn and insults of wicked 
men did not concern them in the least. They 
went their way, happy and in Christian con- 
tentment, until they, at length, reached the 
Eternal City. Refreshed anew, they then 
returned to Vienna. 

Clement had been in Rome, yet he had not 
seen the Pope. This happiness was his, when 
Pope Pius VI. arrived at the Imperial City on 
the blue Danube, on the 226. of March, 1782. 
The insulting treatment which the Supreme 
Head of the Church then endured stirred up 
the Catholic heart of Clement. He resolved, 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 17 

with Kunzmaan, to undertake a second 
pilgrimage to the tomb of the Prince of the 
apostles, and to live in Italy the life of a 
hermit. His master endeavored to prevent 
this ; he even offered the youth his daughter 
in marriage, — an offer which decided him so 
much the more quickly to start off on his 
pilgrimage. In the Autumn of 1782 the two 
friends travelled for the second time over the 
Alps, not unfrequently passing the night un- 
der the open sky. 

After praying to their hearts' content in 
Rome, they betook themselves, in the be- 
ginning of the year 1783, to Tivoli, in order 
to carry out their cherished plan. They 
received the habit of the Eremites at the 
hands of the saintly Bishop of Tivoli, Barna- 
bas Chiaramonti, of the Order of St. Benedict. 
This prelate was afterward chosen Pope, 
under the name of Pius VII. In religion 
Hofbauer received the name of Clement of 
Ancyra ; Kunzmann, that of Emmanuel. 

Their hermitage was very delightful. Out 
of a dark olive grove, there rises up a magni- 
ficent church. Close to this, they established 
their dwelling, with a pretty little garden in 
front, and a spring of fresh water. The 



1 8 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

church possesses, as a highly-prized treasure, 
an old Grecian portrait of our Blessed Lady, 
before which the peasantry love to pray for a 
good harvest. It is exposed in the Cathedral 
of Tivoli every year, from May until the feast 
of the Assumption. 

Hofbauer here led a mortified but happy 
life, for which he often yearned in later years. 
His sole food was some bread and the fruits 
from his little garden, whilst fresh water was 
his drink. He would fain have passed his 
entire life in this calm retreat, but Almighty 
God destined him for other and greater things. 
His intimate communion with heaven in the 
silence of his hermitage was but the school 
for his later activity. All great men, yes, 
even Our Saviour Himself, have prepared 
themselves for their mission by a retreat of 
longer or shorter duration. Moses and Elias, 
St. Paul and St. Benedict, Ignatius of Loyola 
and many other illustrious servants of God, 
were lovers of that solitude, whence they 
passed to the accomplishment of heroic deeds. 

At the end of six months, the Spirit of God 
urged the two brother-hermits to return to 
Vienna, where they continued their studies. 
Two sisters, who had often seen them serving 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 19 

Mass, and to whom their piety had appeared 
remarkable, supplied them with the necessary 
means. Divine Providence had permitted 
Clement to do them a favor which had secured 
for him and his friend the kindly interest of 
those pious ladies. But he did not stay long 
in Vienna. The irreligion among the pro- 
fessors forced him to leave there at the end 
of a year. 

III. He becomes a Redemptorist 

After recommending the matter earnestly 
to God, Hofbauer determined to return once 
more to Rome. He thought to himself: 
^' God will help me still further." Having 
won over to his design his friend Thaddeus 
Hlibl, whom he had found only a short time 
before, under rather peculiar circumstances, 
and who was also assisted by the pious ladies 
before-mentioned, they forthwith set out on 
their journey. In Cremona they were at- 
tacked by a large black dog. When Hofbauer 
saw how frightened Jliibl was, he said: " Let 
us recite the Psalm, Qui habitat in adjutorio 
Altissijni. My mother taught me this psalm. 
Any one who recites it with contrition is 
secure from every danger." The animal 



20 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

really became quiet and gentle and, at length, 
disappeared. 

After a fatiguing journey, they arrived in 
Rome, and took up their abode in the 
neighborhood of the church of Santa Maria 
Maggiore, in which the manger of Our Lord 
is preserved. They determined to go next 
day to that church whose bells first summoned 
them in the morning. In this way, led by 
God, they came to the church of the Congre- 
gation of the Most Holy Redeemer, whose 
members are called Redemptorists. The found- 
er of this Order was the saintly Doctor of 
the Church, Alphonsus Liguori, who at that 
time was still living. Neither Hofbauer nor 
his companion, up to this hour, had ever heard 
of the Redemptorists. What they saw and 
heard in this church made such a powerful 
impression upon Hofbauer, that he asked to 
be admitted to the Order, which request 
was granted, although he was already thirty- 
eight years old and his studies were not com- 
pleted. 

Hiibl soon after followed his example, 
although, in the beginning, he felt no attrac- 
tion thereto. But Almighty God so willed it. 

Contrary to all rules, the great zeal of the 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 2 1 

new novices caused their time of probation to 
be shortened, and they were soon ordained. 
St. Alphonsus rejoiced over these two German 
priests, foreseeing that they would, one day, 
do great things for the Order, in their father- 
land. Hofbauer offered himself, together with 
Hubl, to, go as a missionary to the North. 
There was no field for them in Vienna, They 
went forth on foot, during the severe winter of 
1786, towards Warsaw. On the way, Clement 
met his old friend Emmanuel Kunzmann, who 
was just about starting on a pilgrimage to 
Cologne on the Rhine, where he proposed so- 
journing as a hermit. He immediately joined 
the other two, and became the first lay-brother 
of the Order, outside of Italy. In Znaim, 
they stopped at the house of a professor. 
Clement made such a wonderful impression 
upon this man and his family, that they never 
permitted the bed in which he had slept to be 
touched until after his death. The letter of 
thanks which Hofbauer wrote to them and 
the little picture of Loreto which he gave to 
them were ever afterwards preserved in the 
family as relics. Some one saw them in 1864, 
and was given to understand that remarka- 
ble happiness and good fortune had attended 



22 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

that family from the time they received Fa- 
ther Hofbauer's letter. 

In Warsaw, which at that time numbered 
one hundred and twenty-four thousand souls, 
(its population is now over three hundred 
thousand,) the good Father had to contend 
with the bitterest want and poverty. His con- 
fidence in God and his love for souls, how- 
ever, surmounted all obstacles. He estab- 
lished an orphan asylum for boys and girls, 
and an elementary school for the children of 
poor laborers, who already (1795) numbered 
about four hundred. Such love as his was 
never before seen, and it had the effect of 
disabusing the Poles of their prejudices, and 
of bringing to him distinguished followers, 
some of whom were able to preach in the 
Polish language. In one year^ in the church 
of St. Benno, which he had found almost de- 
serted^ forty-eight thousand holy commun- 
ions were made^ and in 1807 this number 
was increased to one hundred and foicr thou- 
sand ! What glorious results! — In addition 
to all this. Father Hofbauer exerted himself 
to have good books and papers circulated 
amongst the Poles, who were greatly in need 
of such holy helps ; and he also established 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 23 

a house in which he prepared poor boys for 
the priesthood, and first of all for his own 
Congregation, for whose honor and extension 
he burned with a holy zeal and love. 

" If one could but gather up the money 
that I gave away in Warsaw, a sack would 
not contain it all," he would sometimes say. 
Giving away to others with a prodigal gener- 
osity, he reserved for himself barely what was 
necessary. *^ Give and it shall be given to you^ 
are sisters," he used to say; " if the priest 
have but a little piece of bread, in order to 
do his duty, he should give the half of it to 
God." Those are glorious maxims! 

IV. In Germany. 

In the midst of a blessed and truly great 
religious activity, which was crowned with the 
most successful results. Father Hofbauer was 
called away by the command of holy obedi- 
ence. He was under orders to transplant a 
shoot of his beloved Congregation into Ger- 
many. Not far from Constance, of which at 
that time Freiherr of Wessenberg was Vicar- 
general, our Saint got possession of an old 
castle, which was in ruins. Together with 
Hiibl he began his career here, as preacher 



24 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

and father-confessor ; and so attractive was 
his manner, that soon a large concourse fol- 
lowed him to Thabor. Thereupon Satan, the 
enemy of everything good, waxed wroth and 
excited the jealousy and envy of the surround- 
ing clergy. An action at law was brought 
against Fathers Hofbauer and Hiibl. The 
former did not lose his peace of soul, but the 
proceedings, alas! forced him to be frequent- 
ly absent from home. At one time, he 
travelled to France, in the interests of his 
Congregation, but in vain. In order to have 
his students ordained priests, he went with 
them to Rome, and on the journey back he 
made a pilgrimage to Loreto. Then he had 
to return to Warsaw, where he was received 
with great jubilation. Here he received news 
of the distress which his spiritual sons of 
Thabor were suffering. He hastened to their 
relief. The journey was long and fatiguing. 
On the way, he prayed before the miraculous 
image of Altotting, where, in later years, the 
labors of the Redemptorists were crowned 
with such blessed and glorious results. 

In Thabor, he continued his work. Many 
a time he preached three and four times on a 
Sunday; and he was indefatigable in the 



BL Clement Maria Hof batter, 25 

hearing of confessions. The reputation of 
the Fathers was spreading far and wide, and 
they received an invitation, which Father 
Hofbauer accepted, to go to Triberg in the 
Schwarzwald, or the Black Forest. Shortly- 
after his first sermon in this place, there arose 
an interest in the neglected pilgrimages, 
which were resumed. 

This, sad to say, again aroused the envy of 
some of the surrounding clergy and, after 
three months, Father Clement shook the dust 
J of that place from his feet, and went forth to 
other parts. On this occasion Wessenberg 
showed plainly that he was an enemy to 
Rome, and that he disliked our Saint and 
his spiritual views. He was, indeed, bitterly 
opposed to him. (To the present time. Father 
Hofbauer is held in the tenderest remem- 
brance in that locality, which is more than 
can be said of Wessenberg and his favorites.) 
The two princes of the church, Herman Von 
Vicari and Lothar Von Kiibel, wrote to Rome 
that Hofbauer still continues to live in the 
memory of the people and that the Pastor of 
Tribejg, although not too well disposed to- 
wards our Saint, had testified in his records, 
that Father Clement was known among the 



26 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

faithful people there as " The Holy Father.'' 
In the year 1802, he came for the first time 
to Thabor, and in 1805^ he left Triberg for 
Babenhausen. This place is in the Diocese 
of Augsburg, and is the seat of the Princes 
of Fugger. The prince at that time was 
Anselm, who was favorably disposed towards 
the pious Father and his companions, but the 
pastor, Strohmaier, knew how to throw many 
obstacles in the path of the good missionaries. 
Pastor Wagner of Weinried, a little village 
near Babenhausen, thought better of their 
great zeal ; here and in the immense church 
of Kirchhaslach, which was much frequented 
by pilgrims, Father Hofbauer was able to 
find and develop a field for his zeal. He soon 
enjoyed the entire confidence of the place. 
Here, also, these noble souls had many annoy- 
ances and malice of all sorts to combat, and 
they frequently suffered from hunger. But 
they bore it all with calmness and resignation, 
yes, even with a certain joy. The Ireroic 
example of Father Clement daily animated 
his companions to renewed efforts. The 
writer was Pastor in Babenhausen from 1861- 
64, and many of the old people there have 
narrated to him facts bearing testimc ^y to 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 27 

the power which Father Hofbauer exercised 
over men's hearts ; and of how he softened 
the obduracy of sinners and even brought 
young people to make general confessions by 
his plain and simple, but, at the same time, 
tender and impressive sermons. This time 
of grace and mercy, however, did not con- 
tinue long for this locality. 

V. Clement is Imprisoned* 

New tribulations befell this holy man and 
his little family. When I attempt to write of 
them, I am reminded of what Diogenes said 
of the early Christians. We may appropri- 
ately apply his language to these persecuted 
men : " They do not differ from the rest of 
mankind, either in national characteristics or 
in outward appearance. They conform to 
the laws, but in a marvellous way ; and their 
manner of life, though hidden from the 
world, is most remarkable. They are as 
exiles in their own land. They take an in- 
terest in everything as citizens, but they en- 
dure all things as aliens ; every foreign 
country is a fatherland to them. They are 
on this earth, but they are not of it, having 
their conversation in heaven. They obey the 



28 The Blessed Ones of 1 888. 

laws of the constituted authorities; by their 
lives they overcome all things. They love 
every one and yet are persecuted by many. 
One knows them not, and yet undertakes to 
condemn them/' 

The Bishop gave the Fathers permission 
to have service in the Hospital of Baben- 
hausen. The multitude of people in attend- 
ance thereat was so great, that the enemies of 
the good cause never rested until this per- 
mission was withdrawn. Even the Prince 
himself, well-disposed as he was, shared, for 
a time, the general misconception. Finally, 
in the year 1806, he lost his princely power, 
and was no longer able to defend the 
Fathers. 

At that tinie Father Hofbauer wrote to 
Rome: "We know not into whose hands 
this region will fall. We have so many 
enemies here, that we have great need of 
genuine and sincere friends. We are living 
in the most intense anxiety.'* On August 
5th, 1806, the Principality of Babenhausen 
became Bavarian. This was the down-fall of 
our Saint's House. The people had hitherto 
yielded a ready obedience to the call of 
grace. Now, when a rich harvest was confi- 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 29 

dently expected, a tempest arose and de- 
stroyed all the fruit. 

Father Hofbauer returned to Warsaw, 
whence sad news had come, and appointed 
Rev. P. Posserat in his place. Soon after, an 
order was issued, commanding the mission- 
aries to leave Babenhausen within two months; 
they then went to Switzerland^ where many 
tribulations were in store for them. 

In Vienna Father Clement met his col- 
league Hiibl, who was there awaiting him. 
When he arrived at Warsaw he found the 
French masters of the city, and his own 
peopld in sore distress. Comic songs were 
composed, and ribald writings distributed 
among the people, in which the good relig- 
ious were maligned and caricatured. Even on 
the boards of the theatres the actors appeared 
as mock Redemptorists, clad in the habit of 
the Order, and always filling the roles of 
villains and debauched wretches. They went 
so far, indeed, as to travesty, on the stage, 
the holy mysteries of religion. They slan- 
dered the priests of St. Benno in the taverns, 
and reviled those who frequented their 
churches. Yes, the good Fathers were even 
attacked and beaten with clubs. Their ene- 



30 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

mies denounced them to the King of Prussia 
(for Warsaw, as is well-known^ belonged, from 
1795 until the opening of the Congress of 
Vienna, to the kingdom of Prussia). Of the 
sufferings which Father Hofbauer, at that 
time, endured, he himself tells us, that " they 
are known to no man, and that they will not 
be made manifest until the day of judgment." 
In addition to all this, our good Father lost, 
by death, his most faithful friend, Hiibl. In 
a spirit of prophecy, he exclaimed : " The 
shield is broken ! God alone knows what 
may happen to us now ! '* 

And, indeed, the bitterest fate of all now 
befell the Fathers. Religious societies were 
abolished, and the missionaries were trans- 
ported as criminals to the fortress of Kiistrin. 
Although here, it is true, treated quite civilly, 
they were, nevertheless, regarded as prisoners. 
Our Saint never, for a moment, lost his seren- 
ity. As he set great value upon hymns, he 
often sang, in his enforced solitude^ the 
sacred song : 

" Now, O heaven ! hear my prayer ! 
Open wide thy gates, that I 

May, from here ascending thither, 
To God's throne mount up on high ! 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 3 1 

May my pure petition offer 

To the Lord of earth and sky ! '* 
We may apply to him and his brethren St. 
Paul's words in writing to the Hebrews, (xi., 

The holy patience of the imprisoned Fa- 
thers made so favorable' an impression upon 
the Protestants, that they were ordered to be 
separated from each other. They were not 
suffered to remain in the same house. After 
being released, our Saint carried his pilgrim's 
staff towards Vienna. 

VI. In the Imperial City on the 
Danube. 

It was hard for the people to understand 
why so many difficulties should beset a man 
like Father Hofbauer. Thousands and thou- 
sands of them would have been wiUing to 
corroborate what was said of this illustrious 
man by a spiritual woman, (eye-witness of his 
wonderful works), at the time of the process 
of his beatification: "The venerable priest," 
says this ninety-year-old foundress, who is 
still spiritually young, " seems to hover con- 
stantly before my vision. He diffused around 
him, by his noble, valuable life, and, at the 



32 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

same time, by his great simplicity, a holy 
peace and the sweetest consolations of charity. 
His speech was always simple; he never made 
use of studied phrases, yet his words showed 
great profundity of thought, and imme- 
diately inspired confidence. The love of 
Jesus, of which his heart was full, shone forth 
in all his actions, but without a trace of sin- 
gularity or affectation. From his cheerful 
countenance radiated the purity of his soul, 
and that blessed tranquillity which is one of 
the fruits of holy joy. 

" God had given him a pecuHar gift for the 
guidance of souls. His labors were incessant, 
and his hunger for the salvation of men incited 
him to seek out the most miserable sinners. 
He worked until thoroughly exhausted, and 
he would allow himself no rest. 

" His greatest happiness was in spreading 
devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament and 
a burning desire for holy Communion. The 
Sacrament of Penance, which, heretofore, had 
been but seldom frequented in Warsaw, was 
now received frequently; for the Redemptor- 
ists continually extolled the benefit and 
advantage of the holy sacraments. 

" In the Church of St. Benno, where Father 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 33 

Hofbauer labored, there was a constant festi- 
val, or rather an uninterrupted mission. The 
church was always full of people, the Most 
Holy Sacrament being daily exposed, and the 
confessionals besieged. 

'' These happy and unusual proofs of con- 
version and of true piety eventually caused 
the expulsion of this distinguished priest. 
He was beloved and revered by all ; his 
affability and mildness were as a magnet, 
powerfully attracting to him all who rejoiced 
in his acquaintance." 

In 1879, this venerable woman further re- 
lates of him: ^^ The servant of God always 
knew how to turn the conversation to spiritual 
matters. Once, when I went to confession to 
him, I found him full of kindness. He fre- 
quently admonished me and others to preserve 
purity of heart, and to receive holy Com- 
munion often. Some one having told him of 
a great sinner, he said: ' Send him to me ! ' 
I know it to be a fact that he converted many 
Free-masons, and helped them to shake off 
the shackles which bound them." 

In 1878, a nun of the Order of the Visita- 
tion deposed of him: "When the blessed 
Hofbauer walked the streets of Warsaw, the 



34 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

people would turn to look after him, regarding 
him as a saint. They desired to touch and 
kiss the hem of his garment, and mothers 
with their children prostrated themselves at 
his feet, imploring his blessing. He was ever 
ready with his imposing stature, his nobly 
serene countenance, and his bright eyes, to 
serve every one. He received in a friendly 
manner all who approached him, and he was 
always soHcitous to practise works of mercy." 

This is the. man, who, in 1808, was obliged 
to leave Poland, driven out with sufferings 
and crosses to the borders of that country on 
which he had bestowed so many benefits. 
And alas! the land to which he was ordered 
to bring the greatest of blessings, far from 
receiving him with delight, greeted him with 
naught save annoyance and petty suspicion. 

As this poor, unassuming, and persecuted 
priest stepped over the boundaries of Vienna, 
who would have guessed that he was a chosen 
favorite of Almighty God ? Who could have 
foreseen that he would prove a mighty instru- 
ment, effecting so much for the restoration of 
the Spirit of Christ, and of true piety ? Who 
could have believed that this man, who al- 
ready showed traces of premature old age, 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 35 

powerless and comparatively unknown, with- 
out money or friends, should have come from 
afar, the heaven-sent physician who was 
about to bring new strength and life to the 
declining and languishing Church in Austria ? 
He was to be, indeed, the saviour of countless 
souls in the imperial city and in the entire 
empire. We may justly call him "the Apos- 
tle of Vienna," just as St. Philip Neri was 
styled " the Apostle of Rome." 

In Vienna, the servant of God was led 
before the civil authorities and held in cus- 
tody. He was discharged at the end of three 
days ; but the police kept a strict eye upon 
him for a long time. 

From the very beginning he lived in pov- 
erty and obscurity, either cooking for himself, 
or living as the guest of a baker, who was at 
once devoted to his service. Praying and 
fasting, he prepared himself for his grand, 
apostolic work. 

In 1809, the rector of the Italian Church 
died of nervous fever, contracted whilst 
nursing some sick Frenchmen. Father 
Clement was appointed in his place, until a 
new rector could be named. . This was an 
opportune occasion for his ardent zeal. He 



36 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

could not, of course, preach, but he only 
prayed the more. He also introduced into 
the parish the Forty Hours' Devotion. After 
four years, in 1813, the Prince Bishop Hohen- 
warth appointed him confessor for the Ursu- 
line nuns in Vienna. He was, at the same 
time, rector of the church belonging to the 
convent. This church was neglected and 
quite deserted. On the three principal festi- 
vals, there were but very few to listen to the 
sermons preached therein. Sometimes, when 
a Litany was recited, there were hardly three 
persons present to answer, " Fi-ay for us I " 
This state of affairs was very distressing to 
our good Father's heart, but it afforded him 
a rich field for his activity. It was his mis- 
sion to restore to life the dead faith of his 
people. 

As it was in this particular church, so was 
it throughout all Vienna. The salt had lost 
its savor. The members of the Church were 
ashamed to be known as Roman Catholics^ 
and great courage was necessary to confess 
one's faith publicly and resolutely in the 
midst of the universal tepidity. Father Hof- 
bauer possessed this courage, and in the seven 
years of his stay in Vienna, (1813-1820) he 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 37 

accomplished an immense amount of good. 
Emmanuel Veith, afterwards so famous as a 
preacher and author, was one of his first 
pupils, and he tells us a great deal of the life 
of the Saint during this time. He was often 
near him, and many a night he slept in his 
humble room. According to him Father 
Clement rose very early in the morning, fre- 
quently about three, and he would then begin 
his favorite hymn : 

" All, my God to honor Thee, 
And Thy glory to increase, — 

All my work I give to Thee, 
And in Thee repose in peace. 

Body, soul, and life be Thine, 
Ever, Lord, till life shall cease! 

Grant me, Jesus, grace for this, 
And Thy blessing now bestow! 

Hasten to our aid, we pray, 
As we journey here below. 

Mary, Mother, succor give, 
That we may God's mercy know! 

Going forth and entering in, 

All my ways, O Lord, shall be, 
With a spirit free from sin, 



k 



38 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Offered up, my God, to Thee! 
Let my steps Thy blessing win 
Now and for eternity! " 

Thus strengthened, he went about his work. 
Nothing could hinder him from laboring for 
souls;— neither his bodily ailments nor the 
change or inclemency of the weather. After 
meditation, he went into the confessional, and 
very often he would not celebrate the Holy 
Sacrifice until 10 o'clock, or some times half 
past eleven, and then quite exhausted from 
his labor In hearing confessions. 

At the table he took very little food ; fre- 
quently he did not eat a morsel. It was his 
pleasure to wait upon the others, whilst pious 
conversation flowed from his lips, whereby all 
were edified. 

In the afternoon, he visited churches or poor 
sick people, to whom he gave alms. Twice 
a year he made an eight days' Retreat, during 
which he remained constantly in church. 

In the evenings he held conferences with 
the students, or explained to them the New 
Testament. He retired quite late to his brief 
rest. Even this he sometimes sacrificed to 
his dear sick people. 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 39 

Thus, day after day passed away in God's 
service. The blessed Cardinal Rauscher said 
of him: " He was the whole day occupied in 
the service of God, in holy occupations, and 
in working for the salvation of souls. 

VII. A Preacher who Strengthened 
the Faith of His Hearers. 

Father Hofbauer was as a brilliant torch of 
faith; hence the grand results produced by 
his simple manner of preaching. 

Appearing before the world, he illuminated 
the darkness and warmed the cold hearts of 
the people. Said a native of Wiirzburg, " I 
have never seen a man like Father Clement,, 
neither in Vienna nor in my own fatherland,, 
Bavaria." Another witness declares of him : 
*^ I never knew a man of such firm and un-^ 
wavering faith.'* Genuine Roman Catholic 
faith was, at that time, a rarity in Vienna as 
well as in the entire empire of Austria, espe-- 
cially among the learned. Our Saint often 
thanked God for having given him Catholic 
parents. When infidels were spoken of, he 
would frequently say: " O, how much must 
an infidel believe, in order to believe nothing! *' 

In all his sermons and conferences he 



40 The Blessed Ones of 1888, "" , 

spoke with special force and emphasis on the 
gift of faith. His entire life of vicissitudes 
was a life of faith. This gave him that pow- 
er over men's hearts which we so much ad- 
mire. He spoke simply, but at the same time 
tenderly, intelligibly, and ardently, and conse- 
quently he was wonderfully popular. Many 
of his sayings will never be forgotten. His 
gestures, too, made the most favorable and 
forcible impression. 

He was a great advocate for the frequent 
preaching of the GospeL " Preach often 
and briefly," was his motto, and he knew 
how to do what Quintilian demanded of an 
orator, viz: "to instruct, affect, and divert 
his hearers." 

When one reflects upon the little time 
Father Hofbauer devoted to his own improve- 
ment, how many days and hours he spent in 
travelling, how occupied he was in the con- 
fessional and in visiting the sick, one involun- 
tarily asks, whence did he obtain the material 
for so many sermons ? Where did he get his 
eloquence ? The answer is a simple one: 
He was always a man of uninterrupted med- 
itation and of continual prayer, a man, more- 
over, of ripe experience and a practised stu- 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 41 

dent of human nature. Like another St. John, 
he reposed upon the bosom of his Lord, and 
thence drew wisdom^ love, and untiring zeal 
in announcing the word of God. As confes- 
sor, for so many and such varied sorts of 
penitents, he acquired a knowledge of life 
and of the manifold intricacies of the human 
heart; he learned to know the mercy of God 
and the power of man's will as few others 
could have done. Furthermore, he faithfully 
practised all that he preached ; and thus he 
became, as it were, a mighty trumpet sounding 
forth the word of God, as one having au- 
thority. 

The hitherto deserted church of the Ursu- 
lines was soon very much frequented. It was 
too small for the congregation whenever our 
good Father preached. Men of high rank 
and cultivation were especially to be found 
among the delighted auditors of those simple 
but attractive sermons. It was often the case 
that one sermon sufficed to bring back many 
erring souls to the right path. " If you want 
to hear a fine preacher," it was said, ^^ you 
may go to this or that church ; but if you 
wish to hear a saint^ then you must go and 
listen to Father Hofbauer'' 



42 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

He was, indeed, even at that time, a saint, 
and hence he was so successful a preacher. 
In the pulpit, his manner reminded one of 
the holy Cure d'Ars, who slept in the Lord 
in 1859. When the celebrated Dominican 
Lacordaire heard the latter preach, he said : 
** After hearing you, I have no longer any 
confidence in myself; in the pulpit you make 
men better, whilst I am only praised for my 
eloquence ! '* 

The saints have a style of preaching, not 
learned from books or men, which worldlings 
can admire, but cannot imitate. The elo- 
quence of the saints is the true language of 
the heart. 

Cardinal Rauscher, one of the many 
grateful pupils of our good Father, tells us 
the following: ^' As a preacher, he was won- 
derful. He had never studied oratory, his 
discourses were totally lacking in elegance, 
he had certainly read nothing of those pro- 
fane writers who had enriched the German 
language; on the contrary, he had not even a 
complete command of that tongue; but he 
proved himself a scholar and spoke as one 
having authority. Never before had I heard 
an orator whose words were so powerful and 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 43 

touching. For that reason he was able to 
move the hearts of the most cultured as well 
as of the common people." 

He knew, as the Jesuit Father Rinn said, 
'^ how to fill the soul with supernatural unc- 
tion, that all might be edified." A learned 
and illustrious man who was deeply impressed 
said: " A single word from his lips was enough 
for me for a whole week." 

Father Hofbauer often said before preach- 
ing: " I will speak so plainly to-day that the 
illiterate, yes, even the little children, fully 
comprehending my meaning, may not accuse 
me before the judgment-seat, saying: " We 
did not understand you ! " 

The celebrated orator and writer, Emman- 
uel Veith, who, after God, thanked our Saint 
for his conversion, testifies to the marvellous 
combination of simplicity and strength which 
characterized his sermons: ^'Father Hof- 
bauer's discourses were lacking in the rules 
of homiletics, a proper arrangement of the 
subject, and every rhetorical ornament; nev- 
ertheless, very distinguished priests, such as 
Prof. Zangerle, listened to his sermons with 
pleasure. I have often heard from the latter 
as well as from Bishop Friet, that the servant 



44 The Blessed Ones of i 

of God preached by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, as ' one having authority/ " 

Apostolic, as was his simplicity, so also 
was the zeal with which our good Father 
preached. He spoke with a vivacity, an in- 
spiration, with a passion and fervor, that 
captivated and transported all. " His coun- 
tenance shone; he was in an ecstasy, like a 
seraph,'' says Dr. Veith. They looked upon 
him as one not seeking his own glory, but the 
honor of God and the salvation of souls. His 
words, coming straight from his heart, went 
straight to the hearts of others. When he 
spoke, profound silence reigned. His audience 
was frequently so moved, that their tears 
and sobs could not be restrained. Numerous 
and extraordinary conversions followed. A 
distinguished layman declares: ^'I myself 
have known many learned men in Vienna, 
who at one time troubled themselves very 
little about religion and its precepts, but who 
became converted through Father Hofbauer." 

Yet, with all his fire, he never exagger- 
ated. Repose and dignity shone forth in 
all his movements, just as his countenance 
revealed his firm faith, his earnest and faithful 
soul. He always preached the Roman Cath- 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 45 

olic faith openly, which was, at that time, 
rare and unusual in Vienna. Besides himself, 
none save Zangerle and Ziegler, and later 
Zacharias Werner, had the courage to call 
Catholicity by its true name. 

Like St. John, Father Clement was zealous 
in declaiming with clearness and frankness 
against the moral evils of his time. This he 
did so adroitly, that no feeling of ill-will 
towards him remained, but his hearers were 
filled with salutary shame and contrition. 

His free speech, however, did not please 
every one. The police, in particular, kept 
him well under their eye. One day he was 
positively forbidden to preach at all. He 
obeyed, although with a heavy heart. On the 
next Sunday, the church was filled with those 
who desired, but in vain, to hear a sermon 
from our Saint. He ascended the pulpit, read 
the Gospel, and then merely added these 
words: "To-day I cannot preach, for I must 
be obedient. I shall ask the Holy Ghost, 
during Mass, to say to those present what I 
would have said had I preached." Then a 
universal weeping and sobbing arose. 

After a short time, however, the prohibition 
was removed. From that time forth he 



46 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

preached in his own way, unhindered by the 
authorities. If any one told him he ought 
not to preach so severely, the wise priest 
would reply: "Ah! one must be severe, for 
the cause of religion is threatened with ruin." 

He called the priest " the apple of God's 
eye.'* On the Ember days, especially, he 
recommended the people to pray for good 
priests, and he advised them to fast for the 
same intention. Through the priest there 
comes upon a people salvation or ruin, a 
blessing or a curse. In the Old Law, when 
all other chastisements failed to lead the peo- 
ple back from the error Qf their ways. Al- 
mighty God sent to them, as the most severe 
punishment of all, a hierarchy of bad and 
deluded priests. " Be instant in prayer and 
supplication," he exclaimed, ^^that Our Lord 
may send us holy priests; they are the great- 
est blessing for the entire people as well as 
for individuals. Honor the priest, remember- 
ing the words: ^ He that heareth you, hear- 
eth Me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth 
Me.' " 

Father Clement endeavored to instill into 
his hearers love for the Church and a child- 
like reverence for her Supreme Head. He 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 47 

was wont to say: ^^ Whoever does not vener- 
ate the Holy Father, does not revere the 
Church, our mother. He who does not obey 
the orders of the Pope is not an obedient son 
of the Church. He who does not pray for 
his parents is a bad son, and he who does not 
pray for the Holy Father is not a good Cath- 
olic. ' Whoever has not the Church for his 
mother cannot have God for his Father.'" 
He was particularly severe upon those Cath- 
olics who transgress the ecclesiastical precepts, 
excusing themselves with the words: " It is 
only a precept of the Church." 

He loved to discourse of the dear saints of 
God and impressively admonished the faithful 
to venerate them devoutly, and invoke them 
confidently. 

Father Hofbauer gave the Papal Benedic- 
tion solemnly several times in the year. Those 
days were looked upon almost as festival days, 
on which the people thronged his church in 
crowds. 

Thus laboring in the pulpit and kindling 
the fire of devotion by his sermons, the pious 
Father introduced new spirit into the coldest 
and most tepid hearts. He was well aided in 
this by Rev. Zacharias Werner, a spiritual and 



48 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

highly cultivated man, who had, at one time, 
been a Free-mason. He always continued to 
be his faithful friend and devoted pupil, and 
his appearance in the pulpit of Vienna pro- 
duced the most profound impression. Father 
Hofbauer used to call him " the trumpet of the 
last judgment." Father Werner was a prom- 
inent preacher of the Gospel. He extolled 
the happiness of being a son of the Catholic 
Church with a fascinating enthusiasm. He 
called the catechism "a golden booklet in 
which more wisdom is to be found than in 
the tomes of the philosophers.'* He became, 
with our Saint, the apostle of Vienna. 

VIII. His Love for our Blessed Moth- 
er, for the Saints, and for the 
Holy Souls. 

Like all the saints of our Church, Father 
Clement had a tender devotion to the Mother 
of God, especially under the invocation of 
Our Lady of Good Counsel. Like his holy 
Founder, St. Alphonsus, he delighted in 
preaching often upon the veneration of Mary. 
When he eulogized the Mother of God, his 
countenance became illuminated with joy, and 
the spectators often beheld, as it were, a halo 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 49 

of heavenly fire about him. He could not 
bear to hear any one call Our Blessed Lady 
simply Mary. " Do you mean Mary of 
Egypt ? " he once asked. He always liked to 
prefix to our holy Mother's name some lauda- 
tory adjective, such as the most blessed Mary, 
the ever-hnmaculate Virgin Mary. 

" In all your necessities/' he once said, 
" hasten at once to the most Blessed Virgin. 
She is the Mother of Mercy and will obtain 
all graces for you from her Son. Never yet 
has He denied her any favor, for the Son can- 
not refuse His Mother's request. She found 
grace with God and she still continues to find 
favor with Him." 

He especially directed sinners to have re- 
course to Mary, ^* Refuge of Sinners." " Be- 
loved brethren," he exclaimed in an ecstasy, 
" if there should be any one among you who 
has lost his faith, or is weak in that divine 
virtue, I know a powerful means to re- 
cover and strengthen it; prostrate on your 
knees, daily recite humbly and devoutly one 
Ave Maria to the blessed Mother, and your 
soul will find peace." 

He liked to visit celebrated shrines. He 
had gone long ago to Loreto and Alt-Oetting. 



50 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Whilst in Vienna, he visited nearly every year 
the, spot called Maria-Zell. There he sang 
with great fervor and sweetness many beauti- 
ful hymns to the Blessed Virgin. This was 
his favorite: 

Rejoice^ ye hills and ye mountains, 
Sing all of you, great and small ! 
At the feet of the purest of Virgins 
Let lilies and roses fall! 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds of music sweet, 
Mother of mercy, thee we greet. 

Thou art in thy mystical beauty 
The Ark of the Covenant fair! 

Our fathers beheld it, prophetic. 
Yet knew not thy symbol was there. 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

At the sight of thy exquisite image, 
Pure Ark that no storms can destroy, 

Our souls, like the heart of the Baptist, 
Leap up with a marvellous joy! 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

Peace, blessing, and sweetest salvation. 
Attend on the Holy One's Spouse, 

As when Obededom once welcomed 
The Ark of the Law to his house. 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 51 

From pestilence, warfare, and famine. 

From every evil and woe, 
This wonderful Ark will preserve us. 

Reposing amid us below! 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

ough Satan and sin shall assail us. 
If thou thy bright forces array. 
Before thee, tumultuous, retreating. 
Like smoke, they shall vanish away. 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

Look down, then, on these, thy fond clients, 
Who love thee so truly and well — 

Protect them, O dearest of Mothers, 
From all the devices of hell. 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

Ah! come with thy Son, when death's 
shadow 
Falls o'er us — sweet comforter, come. 
And lead us, the heirs of God's kingdom, 
To rest in His heavenly home! 
Cho.— With jubilant sounds, etc. 

O, there, may we praise thee and bless thee. 
Fulfil all our vows in thy sight. 



52 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Looking up where thy Son had enthroned 
thee 
In His kingdom of glory and light! 
Cho. — With jubilant sounds, etc. 

Once, when Father Hofbauer and his com- 
panions, among whom was Rev. Emmanuel 
Veith, went up into the great church of the 
pilgrims at Maria-Zell^ they found a number 
of people assembled there. They sang hymns 
alternately in German, Bohemian, Sclavonian, 
and Italian, walking processionally to the 
chapel of grace. Our Saint was deeply af- 
fected thereat, and, filled with a heavenly 
joy, he said, exultingly: "The philosophers 
should tell us what has induced these peo- 
ple to come from afar and with so much 
trouble and pains to reach this lonely moun- 
tain. What compels them to do this? We 
must confess it is the power of faith, the 
power of the Holy Roman Catholic religion. 
The Rationalists would never succeed in mak- 
ing any one move a foot to leave his home. 
Would that our Holy Father in Rome could 
see with his own eyes this multitude of faith- 
ful people! How he would rejoice! He 
would weep for very joy! This triumph of 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 53 

religion would fill his heart with consolation! " 

(What would Father Hofbauer say were he 
living now and able to take part in a religious 
function at Lourdes?) 

This pious servant of God venerated the 
saints in a Uke appropriate manner. He was 
specially devout to Blessed Michael, and he 
reverenced him as the special protector of the 
Church. He showed such respect to the 
angels guardian, that, in order to honor them, 
he passed through villages and towns with 
head uncovered; thus, as it were, greeting 
the heavenly host who watch over and protect 
mankind. 

We may imagine how he venerated St. 
Joseph, fie was his dear friend in need, and 
as such, he liked to recommend him to others, 
in the pulpit and also in the confessional. 
'' In all of your distresses and anxieties, go to 
St. Joseph," he said. '' He is the father of 
the poor, of the widow and the orphan, a 
helper in every affliction. Ask his prayers, 
especially for a happy death." 

He esteemed, above all others, the holy 
martyrs. He called them " the Fathers of 
the Churchy for they not only bore testimony 
to the truth of the Holy Catholic faith by 



54 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

their teaching and example, but much more 
by their blood." 

Of the holy apostles, next to St. Peter, he 
reverenced Blessed Thaddeus and James the 
Greater. He maintained that he had received 
striking instances of the former's help in 
times of great distress. He circulated among 
the people a Litany of St. James, in order to 
honor this great Apostle. 

He venerated most devoutly St. Catharine 
of Siena, because she had done so much for 
the Church; and St. Teresa, because she had 
contributed so much towards awakening the 
faith, and had so widely increased the devo- 
tion to St. Joseph. He liked to relate to the 
religious certain facts in the life of St. Atha- 
nasius. He recommended St. Stanislaus and 
St. Aloysius to the young as the protectors 
of holy purity. As a confessor he had re- 
course to St. John Nepomucene. 

His joy was extreme, when, in 1816, Blessed 
Alphonsus Liguori was canonized. "I shall 
do all that I can, to the end that his honor 
may be increased/' he wrote to Rome. 

Father Hofbauer combined with this ven- 
eration for the saints a touching love for the 
poor souls in Purgatory. He was always rec- 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 55 

ommending them to the charity of others. 
'* Prayers for the dead are never without ben- 
efit," he said; ''they are always meritorious 
for us, and agreeable and acceptable to God. 
They are profitable both for the living and the 
dead." He offered up all his good works and 
indulgences for these poor souls. ^' One los- 
es nothing, by being generous with them," was 
his favorite phrase. 

When any one of the Sisters died, he ex- 
erted himself to have as many Masses as 
possible said for her. They often wondered 
how he discovered so many priests to attend 
to his pious intentions in this regard. 

IX. True Fraternal Love. 

St. Vincent de Paul, whom our Saint closely 
resembled, once said : " Our real love of 
God is manifested by a genuine love of our 
neighbor." 

Father Clement had a sincere, self-sacrific- 
ing love for all ; a charity coming from the 
Holy Ghost for the whole human family. 
This much-tried love was directed, above all, 
to the poor and the sick, to the sinners of the 
neighborhood, to children, students, Protes- 
tants, and Jews. They had given him the 



56 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

title, " Father of the Poor^' and he deserved it. 

A father, according to the flesh, could not 
take better care of his own children, than did 
Father Hofbauer of poor, abandoned little 
ones. He came to their aid with money, 
victuals, clothing, and everything else that was 
needed. Although he himself was poor, he 
always had something to give away. He 
often went through the streets of Vienna, 
laden like a beast of burden. 

Frequently he carried bread for the poor 
in the large pockets of his habit. He took 
the same, and other sorts of nourishment, in 
person to the sick, or he would send it by one 
of the students, whom he always supported 
and kept about him. 

Whole troops of invalid soldiers would 
come to the good Father. To them, he gave 
what he had. On Saturdays he even took 
bread with him into the sacristy, that he 
might himself distribute it to the poor, not 
being at home in the forenoon. In the year 
18 1 7 he saved many from death by starvation. 

He had the most tender charity for the 
modest poor, whose shrinking reserve pre- 
vents them from revealing their terrible 
destitution. He once engaged a poor artist, 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 57 

whose paintings were worth little or nothing^ 
to execute something for him, merely that he 
might help towards his vSupport. 

What he had, he gave willingly; it was the 
joy of his life to do this. He provided for 
the poor as a mother would for her children. 
He preferred to associate with poor and hum- 
ble people, rather than with the rich and 
distinguished. He sought out the poor; the 
wealthy and prosperous had to seek for him. 
Whenever he visited the rich, it was always in 
the interests of his beloved poor. 

He was always glad to be able to relieve 
those who were not exactly poor, but, merely 
for the time^ necessitous. Many who desired 
to enter a convent had to thank this modern 
apostle of charity for crowning their wishes 
and securing them admission to the holy 
house of the Lord. 

Father Hofbauer served the Ursulines as 
confessor and rector of their church for 
seven years, and never accepted any salary. 
He was satisfied with a poor dwelling and 
humble fare ; yes, he even gave to them 
abundantly, whenever he could. Other Orders 
received from him, also, a great many favors. 

Once, in a religious house, there was great 



58 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

distress and need of funds. One of the Sis- 
ters said : " Now we stand in need of the 
dumb fish as in the time of the holy Apostle 
Peter." On the very same day Father 
Clement Hofbauer came, unexpectedly, to the 
House, and said, smiling : '^ / am the dumb 
fish,'" With these words he emptied his well- 
filled purse of all the gold it contained. 
Their present necessity was relieved, and 
henceforth the temporal condition of the 
House was improved. 

Father Hofbauer was, as we have said, the 
special friend of children. Their religious 
education was very near to his heart. There 
was no subject upon which he preached so 
often and so impressively as upon the educa- 
tion of youth, "Fathers and mothers," he 
once exclaimed, " forget not that the blessing 
or the curse of the human race depends for 
the most part upon you; to you is committed 
the education of youth; you will form a good 
generation only when you have subdued the 
refractory wills of your children. That which 
is sown early in their youthful hearts remains 
in old age. Be convinced that, if you do all 
that lies in your power, Almighty God will 
give the increase." 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 59 

He had already done a great deal in War- 
saw for the children. He now did the same 
in Vienna. He knew how to draw the little 
ones to himself, by a truly paternal love. 
When they approached him he presented 
them with pictures or medals, with fruit or 
pastry. When he walked through the streets, 
the boys liked to gather round him and kiss 
his hand. He talked in a friendly manner 
with them, and they often went with him as 
far as his home. His influence over the 
hearts of children was indescribable. Many 
of them received his words as though coming 
from the Lord Himself. This was especially 
the case with the young girls of the Ursuline 
academies. 

A compassionate charity attracted Father 
Hofbauer to all heretics. By his prayers and 
sermons, and much more by his example, 
many belonging to other denominations ac- 
quired a great veneration for him. Many 
Jews and Protestants had to thank him, 
under God, for their conversion. Klinkow- 
strom, Schlegel, Veith, Werner, Schlosser, 
and Baron Rieger were under obligations to 
Father Clement, and found in him a friend 
and deliverer. 



6o The Blessed Ones of i 

His influence in the confessional was pow- 
erful over penitents of all stations. He 
seemed to have a special gift for directing 
and comforting souls, and he dealt with 
facility with the most difficult cases of con- 
science. He has been justly called a second 
Philip Neri. He spent a great part of his 
life, up to old age, in the confessional, in spite 
of increasing bodily infirmities. To how 
many he proved himself a guardian angel 
and deliverer will never be known till the 
day of judgment. When he was quite fa- 
tigued and exhausted with the labor of teach- 
ing, hearing confessions, and visiting the sick, 
he would devote the evenings to spiritual 
conferences, whereat he provided many young 
persons with food for body and soul. When 
we consider all this and remember that he 
frequently spent the half and sometimes the 
whole of the night at a sick-bed, we are lost 
in wonder as to how he could manage to exist 
with so little sleep or rest. He was seldom 
seen to eat, and many supposed that in this 
respect also he was extraordinarily favored 
by God. 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 6i 

X. Extraordinary Graces, 

The gift of miracles never dies out in the 
Church. There have always been saints, 
■even in our own century, whom God has sus- 
tained and distinguished by miracles and 
extraordinary graces. The most striking of 
these marvels are to be found in the life of 
our Saint. What I relate of him is from eye- 
witnesses, who certified to their statements 
under oath before the register or protocol. 
Falsehood or illusion is, therefore, out of the 
question. 

Father Hofbauer possessed, in a high de- 
gree, the gift of reading the hearts of men. 
Many of his penitents testified that he fre- 
quently knew the condition of their souls, 
before they had confessed to him. This 
proved him to be specially enlightened by the 
Holy Ghost. According to Dr. Veith, — 
^* Father Clement showed, on every occasion, 
that he could penetrate the hearts of men; 
hence, falsehood was most insufferable to 
him." 

Once^ on a lovely summer evening, when 
he was out walking with his scholars in a 
lonely spot, a man crept slowly and softly by, 



62 The Blessed Ones , of 1888. 

who appeared very much troubled and dis- 
traught. The good Father asked his pupils 
to wait for him, and hurried after the poor 
man. He saluted him, offered him snuff 
from his own snuff-box, and asked him, sym- 
pathetically, why he was so sad ? The love 
manifested by our Saint unsealed the lips of 
the unfortunate man, and he confessed that 
he had had the intention of drowning himself. 
Father Hofbauer had known it, and thus 
saved him. 

In like manner he once saved a poor de- 
jected woman, who was on the point of 
committing suicide, exclaiming to her : — 
" Don't kill yourself and lose your soul ! " 
She afterwards made a general confession to 
him, and, entering a convent, there led a 
penitential life until death came. 

He once said to a delicate novice: **You 
will make your profession, will grow strong 
' and healthy, and will outlive many of those 
who have rosy cheeks." His words proved 
true. At twenty-eight years of age she grew 
robust, as he predicted, and lived to be 
seventy-six years old. When the superioress 
was ill of hemorrhages, he said: ^^ She will 
recover," and she actually lived for fifteen 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 63 

years afterwards, contrary to the expectations 
of all the doctors who visited her. 

Dr. Emmanuel Veith tells of Alphonsus 
Klinkowstrom, that once, when a boy, he was 
dangerously ill. Stroking the sick child 
softly on the cheek, Father Hofbauer told the 
anxious mother: "• It is nothing; this even- 
ing the boy will be hungry and will partake 
of food.'* Again his words were verified, 
and Alphonsus lived to be in later years 
councillor of the Court. 

Of the Congregation of which he was 
Vicar-General, he predicted many things, 
especially this: '^Whilst I live it will never 
be recognized; but after my death, many 
monasteries will be established." This came 
to pass. He also prophesied to many the 
vocation to which they would be called. 

Our Saint possessed the gift of supernat- 
ural knowledge and wisdom. Thinking men 
could only explain the wonderful results of 
his sermons and instructions, his ever- just 
decisions in the most difficult questions, by 
attributing it to the extraordinary Assistance 
of the Holy Ghost. Often, by a few words, 
he brought heretics to an acceptance of the 
true faith, sinners to repentance, and pious 



64 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

people to lives of greater zeal. His plain, 
simple sermons were impressive, convincing, 
overwhelming in their effects. The light 
which sometimes seemed to surround him, 
and the halo which encircled his heart, were 
a figure of the interior light wherewith he 
knew how to marvellously enlighten the 
spirits and hearts of men. 

At the altar and in the pulpit, he was often 
seen with a glorified countenance, like a 
seraph or hallowed spirit of another world. 
The artist Veith once, when in church, saw 
the servant of God surrounded by a brilliant 
light. 

" It not infrequently occurred that a cer- 
tain hght about his countenance, and espe- 
cially about his eyes, was visible only to those 
who knew and loved him well," declares Dr. 
Emmanuel Veith. This light was most per- 
ceptible when he was singing hymns in honor 
of the Blessed Virgin. 

The faithful servant of God had also the 
gift of miracles. Many sick people recovered 
suddenly, through his blessing and prayers. 
The most frequent of his miracles, we may 
say, was that of the multiplication of food. 
No one knew whence came the supply of 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 65 

various kinds of food, bread, fruit, and pastry, 
wherewith he rejoiced and comforted the 
hearts of the poor. There is no doubt what- 
ever, that what happened long ago in the 
desert, when a few loaves and fishes were 
miraculously multiplied, took place very fre- 
quently in his little room. 

At the evening conferences, many young 
persons were accustomed to eat with him, 
without any special provision being made for 
the meal. John Passy, on one occasion, saw 
a loaf of bread weighing about three pounds 
set before the venerable Father Hofbauer. 
. This loaf he divided among sixteen persons, 
each receiving a good sized share. A small 
piece remained before his own plate, and from 
this little portion he afterwards cut another 
large piece for each person who was present. 
John Silbert was oftentimes a witness of the 
fact that Father Hofbauer took from a very 
small receptacle so many articles of food that 
there really could not have been room for 
them all. This miraculously multiplied food 
was always savory to the taste. Another wit- 
ness testified that it always seemed to him as 
if Father Hofbauer cut the bread for him out 
of his empty hand. 



66 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

An Ursuline nun, Francisca Plaschka, re- 
lated as follows, on the occasion of the ju- 
dicial examination, prior to Father Clement's 
canonization: *^When I was a candidate, I 
was sent, one Friday, on business to Father 
Sabelli, who lived with our Father-Confessor. 
It was midday, and Father Hofbauer invited 
me to dine with them. I knew that there 
never was more than enough food for two or 
three persons sent to him from the convent 
kitchen, and, consequently, I excused myself 
from remaining. I was determined not to 
stay, seeing that there were already six people 
at the table. Nevertheless, I had to sit down. 
Father Hofbauer blessed the food, as usual, 
before he began to divide it. He gave each 
one so large a portion that it was enough to 
fully satisfy him. In a certain dish there 
were two fish. The good Father took from 
this dish as many pieces as there were per- 
sons at table. I was surprised to see him, 
more than once, take out more food from the 
same dish, although I could see nothing left 
in it. I saw lying upon our plates more 
pieces than the dish, according to my judg- 
ment, could have possibly held. He also had 
one bottle of red wine, which may have con- 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 67 

tained a measure. From this he poured out 
a glassful for every one present, myself among 
the rest. After he had done this the bottle 
was still half full." 

In 1865, a lady of rank said that, in 1820, 
she paid a visit to the sick Father. She testi- 
fied that he received but two portions from 
the kitchen. " He fed therewith many stu- 
dents, each receiving a goodly share. When 
others continued coming in later, Father 
Hofbauer would say: " Have you dined 
yet ? " He then gave each one his portion 
out of the same dish, in which there could not 
possibly, (humanly speaking,) have been any- 
thing else remaining. He multipHed the food 
according to the number and necessities of 
his guests." 

"With God all things are possible." We 
find similar wonders in the hfe of St. Bene- 
dict and, in later times, in the life of the 
saintly Vianney, Cure d'Ars, who died in 
1859 (the process for whose canonization is 
now in progress). By such miracles our 
loving Lord has strengthened the authority of 
his faithful servants and increased our love 
and confidence in them. 



68 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

XI. His Death and Funeral. 

Father Hofbauer was of a powerful build 
and had passed a spotless youth; but the 
many labors and hardships of his life, his 
long journeys on foot, in rain and snow, and 
beneath the sun's burning rays, his passing 
whole nights under the open sky, his sitting 
for so many hours daily in the confessional, 
his night watches by sick-beds, his fasting, 
sermons, and prayers, all these had aged him 
prematurely, and finally undermined his 
strength. He also suffered from rheuma- 
tism. A disease of the throat, too, caused 
him much pain, and he was a martyr to hem- 
orrhoids. 

Meanwhile, he w^as treated by his pupil. 
Dr. Veith. In March, 1820, his sufferings 
became very great; nevertheless, he contin- 
ued his apostolic works. He nursed Father 
Stark who was ill, but he said: "I am more 
sick than he is! " When one of the Sisters 
told him she would pray for the recovery of 
Father Stark, he said: " Do so, and he will 
get well, but / will die." When she re- 
marked: ** Your death would be a misfortune 
for us all," — he said: ^^ Sin alone is amis- 
fortune!" 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 69 

On March 15, 1820, the third Sunday of 
Lent^ he preached for the last time. He 
spoke of the account we must one day ren- 
der to God, and exclaimed towards the close 
of his discourse: ^^ Oh! if I had only corre- 
sponded, during my life, with the divine grace, 
how much good would not God have wrought 
through me! " These were the farewell words 
of this apostolic man, who, in his humility, 
never saw the great things he had done, but 
accounted himself only an unprofitable ser- 
vant. Though the weather was very cold he 
heard the Ursulines' confessions, and, on leav- 
ing, said to Sister Ida: " Pray hard for me, 
I am very sick." He was never again to set 
foot in the convent. 

On the 9th of March, he officiated at a 
Requiem Mass in the Italian church. Like 
St. Philip Neri, he comforted and encouraged 
the friends who came to see him. He talked 
very little, and then it was altogether instruc- 
tive and edifying. He liked to repeat the 
prayer: " All for God's honor and glory! " 
He bore the greatest sufferings with angelic 
patience. " What God wills, and as He wills! " 
he exclaimed, when any one showed sympathy 
for him. 



70 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

To Father Madlener he said: "Many se- 
crets go down into the grave with me I " 

On the last day of his life he appeared to 
Anna Biringer and said three times: " I am 
going into my hermitage! '* — and then disap- 
peared. 

Gn Wednesday, March 15th, some friends 
called at noon. They were to be witnesses 
of his pious death. The Angelus bell began 
ringing, but his friends did not appear to 
notice it. Summoning all his strength, he 
said: "Pray! That is the Angelus bell!" 
They knelt and prayed. In the meantime 
he calmly breathed out his beautiful soul. 
Father Madlener having previously adminis- 
tered the last sacraments, which he received 
with the greatest devotion. He was sixty- 
nine years of age. 

When his death was announced in the con- 
vent, there arose a universal weeping and 
sobbing, no one being able to partake of the 
midday meal. The news of his decease spread 
rapidly far and near. The concourse of peo- 
ple that ran to the church was very great; 
for every one wished, once more, to gaze 
upon the beloved dead Many cut pieces 
off his habit; some carried away locks of his 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, 71 

hair. He looked very sweet and peaceful in 
death and seemed to be sleeping, so that all 
the people cried out: ^^ Father Hofbauer lies 
in his coffin, just like a saint! " 

Father Stark once asked our Saint what 
arrangements he wished made when he was 
dead. His answer was: "Rest easy about 
that; God will provide! " And God did, in- 
deed, provide. His funeral was the grandest 
and most imposing Vienna had ever seen; it 
was a real triumphal procession. No invita- 
tion had been published, nor was the exact 
hour for the interment known to all his 
friends, and yet — what an astonishment to 
every one! — the streets of the city were filled 
with people who hastened to the funeral. 
The seminarians came, and none could tell 
who had given them permission to accompany 
the body to the grave. The immense gate of 
St. Stephen's opened, and no one has ever yet 
learned who opened it, or by whose authority. 
Many officers, priests, and religious were there. 
Large numbers of the nobility, male and 
female, came in carriages ; even soldiers 
were seen hastening towards the Cathedral. 
Twelve prominent men carried the coffin. 
Th*e weather was dull and rainy. It was four 



72 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

in the afternoon and nearly dark by the time 
they reached St. Stephen's Cathedral What 
a spectacle! On looking round, one saw, as 
it were, a sea of twinkling lights. The greater 
part of those in attendance held lighted can- 
dles in their hands, and the assembly was a 
stupendous one. " As I gazed out of the 
gigantic gates," said an eye-witness, " I saw, 
as far as the eye could see, nothing but a 
tremendous multitude of people, brilliant in 
the light of many candles. 1 thought: ' This 
is, indeed, a triumphal procession! ' " The 
carrying of lighted candles at a funeral is 
quite an unusual thing in Vienna. No one 
knew who had purchased or provided the 
candles. 

Rev. Zacharias Werner pronounced the 
absolution. The body was removed the next 
day to Maria-Engersdorf, three hours' journey 
from St. Stephen's, where it remained until 
Nov. 4, 1862. It now reposes in the Church 
of Maria vom Gestade in Vienna. 

For a long while afterwards, the blessed 
servant of God and his obsequies continued 
to be the exclusive subject of conversation in 
Vienna. 

The first spiritual child of this wonderful 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer. 73 

man, the above-mentioned Anna Biringer, 
gives us the following sketch of him: " Father 
Clement Hofbauer was of medium size and 
of a robust build. His chest and shoulders 
were remarkably strong-looking. His neck 
was rather short, his head round and well- 
formed; his face was rather broad, than long. 
His natural dignity was always tempered by 
a gentle, smiling courtesy. He always kept 
his eyes half closed. Working, as he did, a 
great deal, and eating but little, he could not, 
nevertheless, be called lean or thin. At a 
glance he could be recognized as a strong, 
energetic man, yet there was not a trace of 
pride about him. His costume was habitually 
a plain one. In Summer he wore a black 
cloak of light material, with a standing-collar; 
and in Winter, a dark blue cloak. He al- 
ways wore a black skull-cap. His hair was 
dark, but it turned gray in his later years. 
In going through the streets, he was nearly 
always engrossed in the recitation of the 
Rosary.** 

Dr. Emmanuel Veith gives us this admirable 
picture of him: ^^The servant of God comes 
back to me now, after forty-nine years, just as 
vividly as when I knew him in life, — an ex- 



74 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ceedingly amiable, plain, humble, prudent 
man^ burning with love for God and his 
neighbor, as firm as a rock in his faith, and 
extraordinarily charitable; one who sought 
not self, but the honor of Jesus Christy and 
who was truly apostolic; one who tried to be 
all things to all men and possessing the ful- 
ness of divine grace. I have no hesitation in 
comparing him with St. Philip Neri and St. 
Vincent de Paul. In the authority he exer- 
cised over men's hearts, he is in my opinion 
second to no other saint! " 

Rev. Dr. Greif, a prebendary or canon, 
thus describes Father Clement: "He was a 
man after God's own heart, full of simplicity 
and love, — a pattern of virtue for every one. 
He knew how to attract all hearts to himself 
and to give to each what he needed. He 
pursued each erring soul like a good shep- 
herd, until he had led it into a place of 
safety, and his charity disarmed even his very 
enemies. He esteemed himself as nothing, 
and all that he had, he gave away. Such 
was his life." 

Another canon of the Church says of him: 
*'I admired in him the keenness of his intel- 
lect, the sobriety of his *spirit, his steadfast 



BL Clement Maria Hof batter, 75 

perseverance in prayer, his unalterable con- 
stancy, his untiring efforts at acquiring per- 
fection, his amiability in his intercourse with 
both high and lowly, his great prudence, his 
sincere gratitude for favors received, his 
invincible courage in persecutions, his great 
modesty in word and deed, his tender mild- 
ness in teaching and admonishing, his inex- 
haustible charity to the poor, his extraor- 
dinary spirit of mortification, his great care- 
in maintaining purity of heart, his discretion 
in guiding souls, his adherence and devotion 
to the Chair of St. Peter, his extreme watch- 
fulness in preserving the purity of CathoHc 
doctrine, his living faith, his unwavering 
readiness for every sacrifice for God and his 
neighbor, the subjection of his own will by 
physical and moral sufferings, his courageous 
strength in all the contradictions of life, and 
his unalterable fidelity in the practice of all 
these virtues, till the end of his life/* 

He was never downcast or morose, never 
immoderately gay. From his countenance 
shone forth that holy peace, which is one of 
the fruits of holy joy, together with a sweet 
gravity which could not be disturbed by any 
earthly passion. The key-note of his exist- 



76 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ence was a love of God and a desire to lead 
souls to him by means of Holy Church. 

All the numerous witnesses who were ex- 
amined during the Process of his Canoniza- 
tion were unanimous in calling him a seraph 
burning with love for God, an angel of 
consolation and of peace, an apostle, the good 
odor of Christ, a martyr for the rights and 
liberties of the Church, — the father of the 
poor. 

XII. Glorious after Death. 

Father Hofbauer died the death of a saint, 
crowning with a worthy close his active and 
marvellous life. Soon after his funeral it 
was universally conceded and proclaimed 
that his canonization was simply a question 
of time. Many people praying to him after 
his death, the servant of God showed himself 
a friend to man in the other life as well as in 
this, by obtaining the grant of their prayers. 
He also appeared more than once to his 
friends and votaries. The first apparition, as 
we have said, was at the hour of death to one 
of his early pupils. On the first Sunday of 
Advent 1822, Rev. Zacfiarias Werner ap- 
peared, very much shaken, in the pulpit of the 



BL Clement Maria Hofbauer, jj 

Ursulines and began: ''I have not much 
longer to live, for Father Hofbauer has 
prophesied it to me. I had finished my 
night prayers and was already in bed when 
my room was suddenly illuminated by a 
bright hght that surpassed the brilliancy of 
the sun. In the midst of it I saw Father 
Hofbauer. He held in his hand a lily, an 
olive-branch, and a palm, and said to me : 
" Zacharias, come, come, come ! " Thus say- 
ing, he vanished. It was not imagination, nor 
was it a delusion. From that hour I feel a 
certain kind of bodily weakness." After a 
few weeks, this faithful friend of our Saint 
was himself carried to the grave. 

When the pious lay-sister Sebastiana was 
at the point of death. Father Hofbauer ap- 
peared to her. Once in his life he had said 
jestingly : " I will stand by you at the hour 
of your death, and will lead you into heav- 
en." Remembering this, when death was 
approaching, she cried out to him to help 
her. Suddenly, she burst out : ** Father 
Hofbauer, Father Hofbauer! " and expired 
quite calmly and tranquilly. 

The favors, both great and small, granted 
through his intercession, are numberless. 



78 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Extraordinary cures of the sick were effected 
by invoking the Saint, or by application of 
his picture or relics to the one diseased. 
His grave is visited to this day ; and many 
miracles and wonderful cures occurred, es- 
pecially during the years that the witnesses 
for his canonization were being examined. 
Father Haringer speaks fully on these in his 
excellent book on the Saint. 

In considering all that is here related, does 
it not seem remarkable that this champion of 
the Redemptorists should have been canon- 
ized as early as fifty-seven years after his 
death ? His persecuted Order and his many 
clients have great reason to rejoice thereat. 
May he prove to be a powerful advocate for 
all of us ! 




BL. LOUIS IVt^^RIE GRIGNON 
DE: IVIONTKORT. 



§t MGutiaxt 

An Apostle Of France. 



5^S]N a comparatively short life this 
i ^M S^^^^ priest, De Montfort, accom- 
a^^l plished really extraordinary things. 
Persecuted in many ways during his earthly 
career, it was not till after his death that he 
was actually understood and appreciated, and 
now he is placed among the great lights of 
the Church. Let us endeavor to animate 
our fervor by this light. This great apostle 
of France we will recommend to all mission- 
aries giving spiritual exercises throughout the 
land, as also all the laity who attend them or 
in any way promote their success. 

h His Youth up to his Ordination. 

Louis Marie Grignon was born January 31, 
1673, in the city of Montfort, which at pres- 



82 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ent belongs to Rennes. His father was a 
lawyer, and his mother was descended from 
an illustrious family of Rennes. Louis was 
the oldest of nine children, three boys and 
six girls. He took the name of Marie in 
Confirmation. Later in life, he renounced 
the name of Grignon and was called Mont- 
fort, because he was baptized in that city. 

At a very early age, he gave signs of an 
extreme fear of sin, and of the strongest in- 
clination to virtue. His intense love for God, 
most strikingly manifested in all his words 
and actions; his tender veneration for the 
Blessed Virgin, which was a prominent feat- 
ure of his piety during his whole Hfe; his re- 
spect for his parents; his love for his brothers 
and sisters, to whom he was a model; his 
solicitude to attract his young associates to 
virtue, — all these foretold in the child the 
future character of the man. 

The charity of his innocent heart and its 
zeal for the glory of God and the salvation 
of souls were apparent from his earliest 
years ; if his good mother appeared uneasy 
or troubled, Louis strove to comfort her and 
incite her to patience. Consoling angel of 
his mother, he was an apostle to his sister, 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, 83 

whom he stimulated, with gentle words, to 
piety. '^Little sister," he would say, "you 
will be beautiful, and all the world will love 
you, if you love God." 

Thus the character of this holy boy un- 
folded, and in imitation of the Child Jesus, he 
grew in virtue with his years. No wonder, 
then, that he neglected nothing to prepare 
himself diligently for his first Communion. 
Who can tell with how much angelic piety he 
received, for the first time, within his breast, 
the Body and Blood of his Lord! The good 
God was pleased to pour forth the treasures 
of His grace into so pure a soul ! 

Well knowing his happy dispositions, Louis* 
father sent him, in his twelfth year, to Rennes, 
to study with the Fathers of the Society of 
Jesus, who kept a flourishing establishment 
there. Confided to these wise and holy men, 
who are so skilled in moulding youthful 
minds, he soon distinguished himself above 
all his fellow-students, by his rapid progress 
in knowledge and virtue. This obtained for 
him the happiness of becoming a member of 
the Blessed Virgin's Sodality, in which the 
best of the scholars were enrolled. He had 
chosen for his confessor Rev. Father Des- 



84 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

cartes, who possessed the rare talent of guid- 
ing souls to the highest degree of perfection; 
hence he could not help but attain a rapid 
growth in holiness. 

At this time a certain priest of Rennes was 
accustomed to gather round him some young 
people, to whom he gave spiritual conferences, 
and whom he also sent into the local hospi- 
tals to attend on the sick. The youthful 
Montfort, happy in having an opportunity of 
being edified and of doing good, gladly 
joined these excellent youths. He divided 
his time equally in study, prayer, and good 
works. The only recreation he permitted 
himself was drawing and designing. Without 
having had any instruction, he executed all 
that he wished with case and dexterity. One 
day a member of Parliament admired one of 
his pious pictures so much, that he bought it 
from him, giving him a gold piece, and the 
young artist spent the money in obtaining 
some lessons from a master of the art. 

Louis loved to draw pictures of the saints, 
and applied himself assiduously to repro- 
duce their virtues in himself. A fellow 
student, and one of his most faithful and sin- 
cere friends, said of him: "So surpassing 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort. 85 

was his grace, that whatever was subUme and 
heroic in virtue seemed thoroughly natural 
to him; he had scarcely entered upon his 
pious career, than he left all others behind 
him, — yes, even the most advanced. To pro- 
found silence, persevering prayer, and the 
spirit of severest penance and mortification, 
he added a tranquillity, meekness,. peace of 
soul, which I never saw ruffled, even in the 
midst of contradictions and the most trying 
humiliations. He kept such a guard over 
his senses that one saw in him, neither in 
look nor word, any sign of excitement or 
levity. 

M. Blain tells of a feature of his fraternal 
charity which made a deep impression on all 
who witnessed it. One of his fellow students 
was so poor and so miserably clad, that he 
was an object of derision. Grignon, in or- 
der to clothe him properly, became, as it were, 
a beggar, and was not ashamed to ask help 
for him from the other pupils. But all that 
he could collect did not equal half the nec- 
essary amount. Thereupon he devised a 
means by which to accomplish his charitable 
plans. He took the poor scholar to a mer- 
chant and said to him: "This is my brother 



86 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

and yours; I made a collection in the classes 
in order to clothe him ; the sum realized is 
not enough; it rests with you to add what is 
wanting." This trait of love and simplicity, 
one among thousands of others, received its 
reward. Love begets love. The merchant 
granted Grignon's request, and the poor 
student was decently dressed. 

After he had finished his studies in the 
humanities, our virtuous youth began his 
course in philosophy, which he completed 
most successfully. But his progress in virtue 
continued to be wonderful. He often re- 
mained whole hours immovable at the foot of 
the altar, his face illuminated, as if in a sort 
of ecstasy. He was frequently seen kneeling 
before a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary 
in the Carmelite Church. It was here that 
almighty God gave him to understand, by 
special inspirations, that he was called to the 
priesthood. 

On this account, as soon as he had com- 
pleted his philosophical studies, he at once 
began theology. He was at that time twenty 
years of age. But Divine Providence, which 
had always led him by the hand like an obe- 
dient child, did not permit him to remain any 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, 87 

longer in Rennes ; his virtues were to shine 
forth in another and wider sphere. Lady 
de Montigny, whom important business had 
brought from Paris to Rennes, and who re- 
sided with the family of the young student, so 
warmly extolled to him the Seminary of St. 
Sulpice, that she aroused in him the desire to 
enter there, in order to prepare himself for 
the priesthood. Having returned to Paris, 
she wrote to Louis' parents that a place was- 
now vacant for him in the Serainary, and that 
she would bear all his expenses therein. This 
good news was received with joy by the 
Grignon family, and especially by the pious 
young aspirant to holy orders, who did not 
delay in setting out for the capital. He 
made the long journey on foot and in a heavy 
rain. Arrived in Paris, he lived at first with 
his benefactress, who, it is true, did not take 
him to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, as he had 
expected, but into a religious association, 
which was established by a holy priest. Rev. 
M. de la Barmondiere. Young Montfort 
was as if in Paradise, for this association 
was impregnated with the piety of its vener- 
able Founder. 

His happiness was extreme, but it was not 



88 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

of long duration. He was soon subjected to 
a hard trial, which would have disheartened a 
less vigorous soul. His promised pension 
having ceased to be paid, Louis was exposed 
to the danger of being obliged to leave a 
house to which he was so strongly attracted. 
But Our Lord did not abandon His servant, 
who trusted solely in Him. The Superior of 
the house would not permit the dismissal of 
the pious student, whose noble qualities he 
highly esteemed. That the Association, which 
was very poor, might not be over-burdened, 
they gave him a position among those whose 
business it was to watch over the dead of the 
parish. The salary for this work was equiva- 
lent to the pension. The young man joyfully 
entered upon the duties of his office, which 
afforded him the opportunity of practising 
humility, poverty, and mortification, and of 
making serious meditations upon the transi- 
tory nature and vanity of all things earthly. 
In that school of mortality, so to say, in the 
presence of death, he considered at his leisure 
the nothingness of all earthly greatness, and 
became more absorbed in those important 
truths which he later preached or sang with 
such force and eloquence, and so well under- 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, 89 

stood how to impress upon the hearts and 
souls of his hearers. 

The sight of the corpses by which he 
watched often made the UveUest impression 
upon him. Two of them in particular spoke 
in such a way to his heart, that he never 
afterwards forgot it. One of these was the 
remains of a prominent man who, after a dis- 
solute life, was struck a fatal blow and sank 
into the grave. His body diffused around it 
such an offensive odor, that those who car- 
ried him did not hesitate to express openly 
their horror and disgust. The other was the 
remains of a lady of the court, who had been 
worshipped for her beauty. In less than 
twenty-four hours after death her face was so 
disfigured, that one could not imagine any- 
thing more ugly and repulsive. 

These long night vigils by the side of the 
dead would have been for almost any one else 
a tolerably hard penance, but for the zealous 
seminarian they were all too little. Scourg- 
ings daily renewed, even to blood, penitential 
garments, cilices, a rough iron girdle, all 
these were used by him, in turn, so that he 
always bore on his body the mortifications 
of Jesus Christ. At the same time he de- 



90 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

voted himself to the study of theology, and, 
God blessing his labors, his superiors placed 
him above all his fellow students, although 
there were many among them possessed of 
distinguished talents. 

A new trial, however, awaited the holy 
young man. He had the misfortune of losing 
his beloved superior, his guide and entire sup- 
port. Rev. M. de la Barmondiere died Sep- 
tember 18, 1694. This was a terrible blow, 
but his confidence in God never wavered. 
He wrote to his parents at Rennes, and, after 
paying his noble benefactor a high tribute of 
gratitude and veneration, said: ^^ I have a 
Father in heaven who will never forsake me; 
He has led me here; He has sustained me up 
to this time; He has always permitted me to 
experience His mercy, although for my sins 
I have deserved nothing but stripes." What 
humihty! what resignation to the will of 
Divine Providence! 

His confidence in God was rewarded. The 
Confraternity ceased to exist, and the pupils 
were obliged to look for a habitation else- 
where. Those who had the means entered 
the Seminary of St. Sulpice. De Montfort 
would gladly have done so, but his hour had 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort, 91 

not yet come. In the meantime, he was al- 
lowed to enter another house. Every thing 
her^was calculated to satisfy his thirst for 
poverty and mortification. Yet very soon 
poor food, combined with severe and close 
study, destroyed his ' health, already under- 
mined by his night watches and other auster- 
ities. He fell ill of a fever and was taken to 
a hospital. Here he had the consolation of 
being in the midst of the poor. He would 
have been more contented had he been lost in 
the crowd of poor sick people, but the manag- 
ers felt obliged to put him into the room as- 
signed to sick priests. The sisters of the 
hospital, who very soon saw that he was not 
an ordinary patient, treated him with respect 
and special charity. They could not suffi- 
ciently admire his meekness and patience, his 
modesty and his other virtues. But the dan- 
ger increased, day by day; the remedies 
seemed to produce no good results, and 
death appeared imminent. The sick man, 
however, never lost hope of recovery, and 
when they were counting his life by hours, he 
alone spoke with so much certainty of his 
restoration to health, that his firm conviction 
could only be attributed to an assurance from 



92 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

on high. Against all hope, his prediction was 
fulfilled, and the recovery of the holy youth 
was rapid. After having edified the sisters, 
the doctors, and the surrounding sick and 
poor, by his angelic virtues, he quitted the 
hospital, in order to enter the little Seminary 
of St. Sulpice^ to which Providence, at last, 
opened for him the door. 

The pious seminarian passed five years in 
St. Sulpice, from 1695 to 1700. He showed 
himself there as he had ever been before, a 
model of perfection. "From the first day," 
says one of his fellow students, " he appeared 
in the midst of those zealous youths like an 
eagle which soars on high and loses itself in 
the clouds, leaving all the world behind it." 

So many sublime virtues, so many distin- 
guished qualities shining forth, as they did, 
in Louis de Montfort^ should have secured 
for him the high esteem and respect of every 
one who knew him. But God ordained it 
otherwise. During his entire life He led him 
in the way of the cross. While he resided at 
St. Sulpice, he had a great deal to suffer, on 
the part of his fellow students and even from 
his masters. There was about him, in his 
movements, his tone and carriage, an unu- 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, 93 

sual simplicity, which did not please everybody, 
and which often drew upon him the mockery 
of the other students and the reproofs of his 
superiors. They upbraided him for many of 
his actions, considering them ridiculous and 
exaggerated, — as for instance, when he would 
cast himself down on his knees in prayer in 
the middle of the assembl3^-room of the Uni- 
versity; or, when going to call on a person, 
he would, whilst waiting, kneel on the door- 
steps; again, he would keep profound silence, 
or throw himself prostrate on the earth whilst 
walking the streets, and kiss the ground 
whenever he heard blasphemous or profane 
language used; he would go along with eyes 
cast down, bare-headed, holding his crucifix 
and rosary in his hands, etc. 

If they had then been convinced, as we are 
now, of the sublimity and genuineness of his 
virtue, they would probably not have been so 
severe in their judgments of him and of these 
extraordinary actions; but, at the same time, 
had it been otherwise, our pious seminarian 
would not have acquired so much merit. 

Whilst in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Louis 
was guided, with great prudence and kind- 
ness, by his first spiritual director. He saw 



94 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

his singular virtue, and though he noticed in 
him many remarkable ways of actings he at 
the same time honored his intention, which 
was certainly a good one. His successor, on 
the contrary, was a man of iron severity, who 
prepared for our young Saint many humilia- 
tions. De Montfort bore everything with 
calm tranquillity, and his humility finally over- 
came all doubt, so that he was entrusted with 
different offices, which are granted in semi- 
naries not merely to the most talented, but 
also to the most orderly and virtuous scholars. 
They appointed him master of ceremonies, 
and also deputed him to instruct the children 
of the suburbs of St. Germain. To him was 
committed the care of the house library and 
of the chapel of the B. V. M. in the Church 
of St. Sulpice; he was likewise chosen, to- 
gether with one of his fellow students, in the 
name of the Seminary, to make a pilgrimage 
to the shrine of Notre Dame de Chartres. 
These various offices suited de Montfort, 
and he discharged the duties attached to them 
with the greatest zeal and fidelity. Appoint- 
ed master of ceremonies, he, in a short time, 
acquired a facility, such as many others who 
had preceded him in that office had failed to 



Louis Marie Grigiion de MontforL 95 

gain. Under his hands everything that be- 
longed to the various functions in connection 
with the service of God was so arranged as 
to be characterized by the decorum befitting 
the house of God. Vicious and neglected as 
were the children of St. Germain's, to whom 
he had to teach the Catechism, he yet knew 
so well how to influence both their hearts and 
souls, that they did all that he wished. Even 
the most unmanageable were so touched by 
his words, that they melted with tears and 
gave signs of sincere amendment. 

He made the pilgrimage to Chartres with 
the greatest devotion. He never interrupted 
his prayer during the entire journey, except 
to address a few words of edification to the 
people whom he met. Very often, too, he 
would retire apart from his fellow travellers, 
in order to speak to the farm-hands about 
God. Arrived at Chartres, he at once repaired 
to the place of the pilgrimage. Early in the 
morning of the day following he received 
holy Communion and remained for six hours 
before the picture of our Blessed Mother. Oh, 
with what fervor he prayed for his teachers, 
for his fellow students, and for himself ! 
Save for the brief time devoted to a frugal 



96 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

meal, he spent all his time at the feet of his 
good Mother, and when he quitted her sanc- 
tuary at night, it was with a heavy heart. 

But the moment was now drawing near 
when our pious seminarian would enter the 
sanctuary as a priest of the Most High. In 
order to render himself more worthy of this 
incomparable honor^ and to draw upon him- 
self richer graces, he asked permission of his 
confessor — which was granted— to antici- 
pate the time for making the solemn vow of 
perpetual chastity. For this purpose he 
selected the Church of Our Blessed Mother in 
Paris, where he was in the habit of commu- 
nicating every Saturday. There he gave him- 
self up to feelings of the tenderest piety and 
made to God an unspotted sacrifice. ^^I 
know not whether it cost him much effort, 
but I know that he had no struggle before 
his entrance into St. Sulpice. He always 
lived like an angel in mortal flesh. I am con- 
vinced that he died in his virginity, and that 
his body descended, innocent and spotless, 
into the grave.'* Thus said the priest who 
was most intimately acquainted with the ser- 
vant of God, and who penetrated most deeply 
into the secrets of his heart. 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, 97 

Obedient to the call of his superiors, with 
the simplicity of a child, but also with a holy 
fear, which the approach of that irrevocable 
sacrifice infuses into the purest souls, Louis 
de Montfort received Holy Orders. His 
whole life, so innocent and mortified, was a 
constant preparation for the sublime vocation 
which was the object of his thoughts and 
wishes ; but, at the last solemn moment, he 
deemed himself still unprepared and wished 
to postpone it, although then twenty-seven 
years of age. It was with tears that he mild- 
ly opposed the desires of his superiors, but ■ 
finally he was obliged to yield to the official 
command. He was ordained Whitsun-Eve, 
June 5, 1700, by Mgr. de Flamanville, Bishop 
of Perpignan, delegated by Cardinal de No- 
ailles, Archbishop of Paris. The young priest 
was so much happier in receiving Ordination 
from the hands of this venerable prelate, 
because he had lately had the honor of being 
his assistant cleric in teaching Catechism, in 
the Church of St. Sulpice, before he (Mgr. de 
Flamanville) became bishop. 

God alone knew what took place in the 
soul of His faithful servant on the day of his 
Ordination and on the following days, es- 



98 The Blessed Ones of 1 888. 

pecially when it was given him to ascend, for 
the first time, the steps of the altar, and, with 
his consecrated hands, offer up the holy and 
unspotted Sacrifice. Let us here listen to the 
language of M. Blain : " On the great day of 
his Ordination de Montfort was penetrated 
with sentiments of piety and gratitude to Our 
Lord Jesus Christ, for having obtained from 
his superiors permission to spend the entire 
day before the Blessed Sacrament, there thank- 
ing God for such an extraordinary grace. 
Indeed, he spent several days there, pre- 
•paring himself for saying his first Mass." 
This he offered up in the Chapel of the 
Blessed Virgin, behind the Choir of St. Sul- 
pice. His friend says : " I was present at it, 
and beheld at the altar an angel clothed in 
human flesh." 

IL His Active Life. 

We have taken the first division of this re- 
markable and blessed life almost verbatim 
from the French life of our Saint, which ap- 
peared in 1886. The space allowed us is too 
small, alas ! to permit us to enter more fully 
into details. 

After his ordination to the priesthood, 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. 99 

Father de Montfort, in his burning zeal, 
longed to preach the Gospel to the heathen. 
" What are we doing here, dear friends ? " 
said he to his religious brethren, " why are 
we unprofitable servants ? Alas ! so many 
souls are going to ruin for lack of priests, 
in Japan, China, and the Indies ! " He 
desired to go to Canada, but his spiritual 
guide would not permit it. Providence pre- 
served him to effect great things for his own 
fatherland. In the year 1883, one hundred 
and eighty-three years later, there went to 
Canada the Association founded by him and 
called " The Confraternity of the Holy Ghost, '* 
which there accomplishes great good. 

Whilst he was occupied with the thought 
of emigration, there came from Nantes to 
Paris a holy priest, named Levigne, who had 
been giving missions in various places. He 
was the founder of the Association of St. 
Clement. De Montfort gladly joined him, ^ 
and they travelled together to Nantes. On 
the way, Father de Montfort prophesied 
the sudden and unprovided deaths of three 
freethinkers who mocked at the missionaries. 
His words were fulfilled. 

From September, 1700, to February, 1701,^ 



lOO The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Fathers de Montfort and Levigne preached 
to the people with excellent results. But our 
Saint perceived that the majority of the Asso- 
ciation had imbibed Jansenistical principles. 
He could not endure the proud spirit which 
the adherents of Jansenism evinced. This 
humble man, therefore, left Nantes, in order 
to attend the religious reception of his sister^ 
who was about taking the veil at Fontravoult. 
He made the entire journey on foot. They 
there offered him the position of canon, 
which this lover of poverty declined. He 
then went to Poitiers, where his first visit was 
to the poor of the hospital, whom he at once 
began to serve. They were all so edified 
with his love and charity, that they desired to 
have him for confessor of the house. This, 
however, was impossible, the bishop being 
then away from home. Our Saint remained 
in Poitiers and taught Catechism to the 
poor of the town and to tRe children; he ob- 
tained a dwelling-place from the vicar-general 
of the Seminary. He was able to distribute 
alms liberally, from what he received as per- 
sonal gifts from others, and he gathered 
around him certain young men, of whom 
he formed a pious confraternity. Many of 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort. loi 

these, subsequently, joined religious Orders. 

After some time. Father de Montfort re- 
turned to Nantes and gave missions, when 
the bishop appointed him chaplain to the hos- 
pital. This was in September, 1701. But he 
would not accept the customary salary, and 
the poorest room in the house was his, — his 
choice being that into which infectious cases 
were usually carried. They dared not offer 
him any other food than that which was given 
to the servants. There soon reigned in the 
house perfect order, instead of the disorder 
which hitherto prevailed there. Once, news 
came to him that his sister in Paris needed his 
advice. As a self-sacrificing brother, he 
hastened to her side. He came home, mak-^ 
ing the long journey on foot, and when he 
arrived in Paris he was so exhausted, that he 
was laid up fourteen days. 

In Angers, through which he journeyed, 
as well as in Paris, he was received by his 
former friends and teachers, not only coldly, 
but even with harshness and severity. His 
enemies had done this. He remained several 
months in the great city, edifying all with 
whom he came in contact, especially the Nuns 
of the Blessed Sacrament, for whom he fre- 



I02 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

quently said Mass. In the hospital, which 
accommodated five thousand sick people, he 
did an immense deal of good. This, how- 
ever, aroused the jealousy of petty souls, and 
he was obliged to leave. He restored har- 
mony among the hermits of Mont Valerien, 
by his loving words and heroic example. But, 
in spite of this, he suffered greatly from 
neglect whilst in Paris. Those who remained 
faithful to him were the poor of Poitiers. 
They besought him in the strongest terms to 
return to them, which he did. 

At that time the good Father laid the 
foundation of a spiritual association, which 
afterwards became an ornament to France. 
Divine Providence led him to a holy soul, in 
the person of Maria Louise Trichet, then in 
her nineteenth year. She became the first of 
the '^Daughters of Divine Wisdom." She 
nursed the sick poor in the hospital with 
unexampled charity and self-abnegation. As 
he soon found great obstacles to success in 
his hospital, he offered himself to his Bishop 
as a missionary. His services were joyfully 
accepted, and he preached with unprecedented 
success. This aroused anew the jealousy of 
the Jansenists and, the anger of the free- 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort, 103 

thinkers. They accused him of having had 
the devil burnt in effigy, and he was pubHcly 
humihated by the vicar-general. He accept- 
ed it all meekly and silently ; the next day 
his innocence was discovered and publicly 
announced. He established a hospital for 
incurables, which was in charge of the " Sis- 
ters of Wisdom." After this Almighty God 
permitted him to meet a certain man named 
Mathurnin, who afterwards became the first 
Brother of his ^'Association of the Holy 
Ghost.'* He found him kneeling in the 
church of the Penitents, and he said to him : 
''Follow me!" He obeyed and remained 
faithful to him and his successors, until 
death. 

With all his various labors, this servant of 
God fasted every day. It was only at night 
that he took a small repast. One portion of 
the night he spent in prayer. At this time 
some wonderful cures and miraculous expul- 
sions of the Evil One were effected by means 
of his prayers. Nevertheless wicked men rest- 
ed not until, by their misrepresentations, 
they induced the Bishop to forbid him the 
diocese. This unexpected command pained 
him deeply, but did not overwhelm him. Con- 



104 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

strained to leave a people who were devotedly 
attached to him, who obeyed him so gladly, 
and to whom he had done so much good, 
Father de Montfort determined to undertake 
a pilgrimage to the grave of the Prince of the 
Apostles. 

This journey he accomphshed on foot and 
fasting. He remained a few days in Loreto 
and daily said Mass in the Chapel of Grace. 
When he beheld the cupola of St. Peter's, he 
took off his shoes and made the rest of his 
pilgrimage barefooted. He arrived in Rome, 
thoroughly exhausted. After some days, he 
had the happiness, June 6, 1706, of having 
an audience with Pope Clement XL 

Father de Montfort besought His Holi-' 
ness to send him as a missionary to the 
heathen. " My son," answered Clement, 
" return to France ; that country needs your 
services." He went back, but was not al- 
lowed to stop in Poitiers, where he arrived, 
quite worn out, August 28th. They would 
not even permit him to say Mass. He then 
went to his own city. He was repulsed in 
three houses^ but in the fourth an old man 
gave him a piece of black bread to eat, and a 
little straw to sleep upon. 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort. 105 

In Dunen, he met his dear brother, who was 
sacristan in a Dominican monastery. The lat- 
ter did not know him, he had grown so thin 
and wasted. " Brother,'' said Father de Mont- 
fort, " give me the vestments to say Mass ! " 
The other, not so humble as he, gave him, 
with a somewhat offended air, the poorest 
vestments, and treated him rather coldly. 
This rejoiced our Saint, and the next day he 
asked him for the loan of the same vestments. 
When the sacristan learned that the pilgrim 
was his own beloved brother, he was ashamed 
of his harshness, and reproached him for not 
having made himself known. ''- Did I not 
call you brother ? Was not that enough ? 
Are you not my brother, according to nature 
and grace also ? " The Dominican begged 
his pardon, and talked everywhere of his 
humility. 

Our Saint remained for a long time in 
Dunen, and taught the Catechism, which the 
Holy Father had specially ordered him to do. 
Here, too, his first care was to seek out the 
poor. His example had such weight, that 
the noble families of the place delighted to 
nurse the poor and sick for forty years and 
established a House of Christian Charity 



io6 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

under the care of the " Sisters of Wisdom." 
Our beloved Saint also gave the spiritual 
exercises to the soldiers ; all praise be to the 
officers who permitted this ! 

In one small town Father de Montfort 
gave a mission to forty brethren of the Third 
Order of St. Francis. In La Cheza he re- 
stored a chapel dedicated to the Blessed 
Mother of God, of which St. Vincent Ferrer 
had prophesied that a certain man of God 
would one day restore it. Here he erected a 
statue of " Our Lady of Compassion," which 
may still be seen. In the castle, near by, a 
room is visited wherein is venerated a stone 
bearing the inscription : " Pillow of Father 
de Montfort ! '' 

In one city, on a certain Sunday, he found 
the young people dancing in the street. He 
sprang into their midst, fell on his knees, and 
implored them so touchingly to become con- 
verted, that they were all ashamed. The 
entire population changed their lives. But- 
the superior of the Mission soon declined 
his services for the future ! Later, he saw 
that he had done our Saint injustice and he 
regretted it. Father de Montfort took with 
him two of his companions and entered the 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort. 107 

hermitage of St. Lazarus, near the city of his 
birth. There he built a chapel, and erected 
a statue to our " Lady of Wisdom." 

One mission followed another. But he 
had much to suffer from the Jansenists, as 
well as from the military, for whom he had 
done so much good. They even went so far 
as to attack him and make an attempt upon 
his life. But God protected and supported 
him. One man, who mocked at his preaching, 
was struck by lightning and instantly killed ; 
a virgin was miraculously fed ; signs and 
wonders occurred. 

The hatred and envy of men and the 
wrath of Satan waxed higher. At a mission, 
Father de Montfort pleased the people so 
much that a magnificent "' Way of the Cross " 
which took several hundred men fifteen 
months to finish, was erected. When on Sep- 
tember 14, 1 7 10, the Cross was about to 
be blessed, there came an unexpected pro- 
hibition from the bishop. The grand Cal- 
vary, which had been in preparation for three 
months, was ordered to be taken down. 
The Evil One had done this, the implacable 
Jansenists being his instruments. They rep- 
resented the Father as an ambitious man, who 



io8 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

wished to attract all things to himself, and 
who would make use of the Calvary for his 
own ends. This unusual proceeding caused 
fear and consternation. And God permitted 
it ! Who knows why ? 

The ruin of Pontechateau was not the only 
suffering this zealous missionary was forced 
to endure; he was to undergo a more pro- 
found humiliation, and without which he 
would, perhaps, never have become so exalt- 
ed in the eyes of God and man. The-Bishop 
of Nantes deprived him of permission to 
preach in his diocese. This crushing intel- 
ligence reached our Saint just as he opened 
a mission in a certain parish. Without 
complaint or endeavoring to justify him- 
self, he returned to the Jesuits in Nantes and 
performed the exercises. The remaining 
time he spent well. He drew a design or 
plan for a hospital for incurables and contrib- 
uted to the establishment of a house for 
convalescents. He founded a society, called 
^' The Friends of the Cross.'' The rules there- 
of bear testimony to his heavenly wisdom. 
An inundation of the Loire occurring, he 
proved his self-sacrificing love for his fellow- 
men as well as his courage and calmness. 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort, 109 

Another evidence that the saints never live 
without benefitting humanity. 

III. From Nantes to Rouen. 

In Nantes the venerable servant of God 
entered the Third Order of St. Dominic. He 
then left the diocese in which he had drank 
so deeply of the cup of bitterness. He trav- 
elled through the dioceses of Lucon and La 
Rochelle, where he was to finish his apostolic 
course. There were bishops there who had 
combated fiercel-y, like himself, the heresy of 
Jansenism. They knew how to appreciate 
our Saint and honored him until death. He 
gave missions there unhindered and with the 
very best results. The city of La Rochelle was 
shaken to its foundations by the man of God, 
and all were attracted to virtue by his words 
and example. Numberless miracles took 
place. Many saw countless crosses in the 
air, such as were seen some years ago in Amer- 
ica, when the Jesuit, the late Father Weniger, 
gave missions. A villain attempted the life 
of Father de Montfort, — so great were the 
hatred and ill-will aroused against him, — but 
our Blessed Lady protected him. He was 
the promoter of special devotion to her most 



1 10 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

holy Rosary. Some one, on a certain occasion, 
put poison in his soup. It is true, it did not 
kill him, but it helped to destroy his health. 

God, however, was with his faithful servant. 
Once, when giving a mission on board a ship, 
a violent storm arose and threatened death 
and ruin to all. The holy man prayed with 
the passengers, and, after reciting the Rosary 
aloud, he said to them: " Fear not^ the Most 
Blessed Virgin has heard our prayers, and 
we are now out of danger,** and the result 
proved his words to be true. 

He was always full of joy and cheerfulness, 
although humiliations were never wanting. 
In one city an angry woman attacked and beat 
him, because he had instructed her daughter 
and received her into the Church. In another 
place he was insulted by some merchants. In 
St. Christopher, an unknown man boxed his 
ears; he remained so meek and mild under 
the insult, that his assailant became sincerely 
converted. Here, too, he performed two 
miracles and foretold two events both of 
which occurred later. 

In La Rochelle he gave the spiritual exer- 
cises to people of the world, and with w^onder- 
ful results. He spent the summer of 1712 in 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. 1 1 1 

a residence which was offered him, and which 
reminded him forcibly of his hermitage in St. 
Lazarus. As the principle work of the farmers 
was over for the season^ he began his labors 
here with all his former fervor and zeal. After 
restoring peace in a parish which was rent 
asunder by enmities he was taken sick. This 
decided him to go to Paris, where he wrote 
the statutes for his " Association of the Holy 
Ghost," the original manuscript of which is 
still extant. Whilst in Paris, he cured a child 
that was terribly infected with leprosy. As his 
enemies in Poitiers had formerly forced him 
to leave Paris within twenty-four hours, so he 
now re-entered it under difficulties. These he 
regarded as blessings. The saints seek those 
trials which ordinary children of Adam try to 
avoid. After living for some time as a her- 
mit, with the Capuchins, in the vicinity of 
Poitiers, our Saint started^ in 17 14, for Rouen, 
with his pilgrim's staff in hand. 

IV. To the Tomb. 

On his long journey to Rouen, our patient 
sufferer was, on one occasion, forbidden to 
say Mass; another time, he was prohibited 
from preaching. For the profit of his own 



112. The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

soul, he made use of the spiritual exercises 
and of meditations on the benefit of crosses. 
The fruit thereof was visible in a letter to a 
friend, which is so beautiful that one might 
imagine it to have been written either by St. 
Paul, or by one of the Fathers of the Church. 
In several places he restored chapels that had 
been disused, and everywhere he went, he in- 
troduced the devotion of the most holy Ro- 
sary. Suddenly he fell dangerously ill, so that 
his end was believed to be near. At the end 
of two months, however, he recovered. His 
hour had not yet come. 

Immediately after his restoration to health, 
he began again to preach and to chastise his 
body. He gave himself no rest. As he ap- 
proached St. Lo, he was obliged to pass an 
entire night in the open air, as no one would 
take him in. He thought himself happy in 
being able to spend some hours resting at 
the foot of a cross. A young vicar, who was 
very friendly to him and who treated him re- 
spectfully, took him to the hospital for the 
poor; this was his favorite abode. Here he 
opened the spiritual exercises which soon be- 
came a mission for the entire city. Never had 
his profound knowledge appeared so strikingly 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort, 113 

as on this occasion. Each day, before enter- 
ing the pulpit, he took the discipUne. When 
some one tried to keep him from doing this, 
he said: *' The cock always crows better after 
he flaps his wings." Here, too, he introduced 
the devotion of the most holy Rosary aijd 
the singing of pious hymns. He erected aa 
immense cross, to which pilgrimages were 
afterwards made in procession, especially on 
Good Friday. 

From St. Lo, Father de Montfort hastened 
to Rouen, to his most faithful friend, M. Blain. 
The latter lovingly remonstrated with our 
good Father, telling him all that the priests 
and his superiors had found fault with in his 
peculiarities, and endeavored to divert him 
from pursuing his former course. But the 
Saint knew so well how to reply wisely and at 
the same time humbly to all this, that M, 
Blain became convinced anew of his sanctity. 
Upon questioning Father de Montfort as to 
whether he (M. Blain) should accept a certain 
pastorship, just offered him, his saintly friend 
repHed: " You will take it— you will have many 
crosses and will afterwards resign it.'' Every- 
thing occurred just as he had foretold. 

During his residence in Rouen he preached 



1 14 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

twice a day. But he soon returned to Nantes. 
He there visited a pious family, carrying 
peace and comfort with him, as usual, where- 
ever he went. At taking leave of them he 
said, three times : " / wish you many crosses ! '* 
His wish was equivalent to a prophecy and 
was fulfilled. During November he preached 
in La Rochelle, and suffered greatly from the 
cold. After having preached very success- 
fully to the soldiers on the Island of Aix he 
continued his sermons in the city. On the 
feast of the Purification, whilst preaching in 
the Dominican church, his pallid counte- 
nance suddenly became illuminated. A halo 
surrounded his head, so that the people no 
longer recognized him. 

During Lent, he gave the spiritual exer- 
cises. After that he sought out a cavern in 
the woods, not far from the city and near a 
spring. Here he desired to commence the 
life of a hermit and prepare for death. In 
this cavern, to which pilgrimages are still 
made, he was favored with a vision of our 
Blessed Mother. This drew him back again 
to La Rochelle, where he put the finishing 
stroke to the' foundation of the Christian 
schools for boys and girls. He was the 



Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. 115 

special friend of children, and provided schools 
for them wherever it was possible. In France, 
up to this time, there was no compulsory 
education act. He everywhere appointed 
teachers, both male and female, and pre- 
scribed a special habit to be worn by them, 
so that the children might have greater 
respect for them. He instituted very good 
methods of instruction^ and thus spread 
abroad countless blessings. In many places 
he established the Confraternity of the White 
Penitents and of the Blessed Virgin. 

After twice going on pilgrimages to a 
sanctuary of our Blessed Lady, and there 
praying fervently for his Association, he came 
to St. Laurent. This was his last earthly 
journey. He opened a mission here, and 
although very weak, he headed a procession 
to go and solemnly meet the bishop. He had 
to abandon this, however, and was stricken 
with mortal sickness. After receiving, with 
angelic devotion, the last sacraments, he passed 
to his eternal reward, April 27, 17 16, aged 
forty-three years and three months. 

V. Peace reigns over his tomb. 

Though dead to the world, Bl. Louis de 



Ii6 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Montfort continues to live to this hour in 
his great families. His establishments are 
the ** Brothers of Mary," who are devoted to 
missions; the " Sisters of Wisdom/* who have 
charge of schools for girls; and the "Con- 
fraternity of the Holy Ghost." In the year 
1885 the *^ Sisters of Wisdom" superin- 
tended, every day, nearly 66,000 children, 
18,000 sick people, and 1,800 prisoners. 
There were 3,700 sisters employed, in more 
than 200 houses, as teachers and nurses for 
the deaf, dumb, and blind, foundlings, prison- 
ers, and public school pupils. They withstood 
the reign of terror and the long wars under 
Napoleon. The " Brothers of Mary " and the 
" Confraternity of the Holy Ghost " have ac- 
complished nlost blessed results up to the 
present time. They have inherited and pre- 
served the spirit of their illustrious Founder. 

Father de Montfort was not merely a great 
orator, he was also an author, poet, and mu- 
sician. He possessed strength of body and 
grace of soul. His hymns and poems are 
among the most beautiful in the French 
tongue. In perusing his writings one feels an 
interior unction, peace, and comfort, only to 
be realized from the writings of chosen souls. 



Louis Marie Grignon de Mont fort, 117 

His treatises on the true veneration of our 
Blessed Lady and on the devotion of the holy 
Rosary are among the most sublime that 
have ever been written on those subjects. 
It need not surprise us, then, after what we 
have heard of this great servant of God, that 
Pius IX. should declare that he had practised 
heroic virtues. Although the greatness of 
the Saint was manifested in his writings and 
hymns, (8,000 of which are as yet unpub- 
lished,) one may confidently assert that all 
rumors against his extraordinary virtues, by 
which he worked upon the masses of the 
people and thus improved them, are mere 
empty reports. In'him we find all the virtues 
united. What saint had more confidence 
in Divine Providence, more resignation to 
God's will under the most trying circum- 
stances, more devotion to the Immaculate 
Virgin, more firm adherence to the Church 
and to the Holy See ? Who was milder and 
more patient under insult and calumny than 
he ? Who was ever more obedient to his 
superiors, more mortified in his life, more of 
an enemy to the world and its vanities, more 
attached to the cross, more devoted to prayer, 
more a friend to recollection, silence, and 



1 1 8 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

seclusion^ than this persecuted priest ? Add 
to all this the gift of miracles and prophecy. 
In truth, if any one was ever worthy of the 
highest honor, — that of being raised upon the 
altars of the Church, — it is our Saint, whom 
Leo XIII. rejoiced in enrolHng among the 
lights of the Church of God. 

On the 29th of September, 1869, Pius IX. 
solemnly declared, upon an examination 
of the miracles wrought by him, that Louis 
Marie Grignon de Montfort possessed all 
virtues in a heroic degree. This important 
decree was affixed to the door of the Vatican 
Basilica and was published throughout the 
entire world. Who can imagine the joy with 
which the reception of this precious decree 
filled all his children, and who 'shall portray 
the happiness which the year 1887 brought 
them, — the ever memorable year of the jubilee 
of Pope Leo XIII ! Exceeding great was 
the joy of his Christian family spread through- 
out the world! The whole of France, and 
especially the cities and towns where he so 
blessedly labored, of yore, resound with the 
triumphs of this zealous apostle ! All Chris- 
tianity rejoices with the saints in heaven, as it 
rejoices with the Church Militant upon earth. 




JBL. EGIDIUS NIARY Oi^ ST. JOSEF^FI. 




remarkable life, and one of miracles 
and extraordinary graces and virtues, 
here unfolds itself to our astonished 
view. This Brother might be called a rich 
poor man. His career proves to us that, in 
order to be pleasing to God, one need not oc- 
cupy a high station, neither need he be rich, 
nor illustrious. Virtue supplies for everything 
else. The life of this poor, self-sacrificing, 
good, and humble man is an impressive ser- 
mon for our times, when many are languish- 
ing in the disorders of inordinate ambition, 
avarice, and love of pleasure, whilst heavenly 
charity hath grown dull and cold. Blessed 
Egidius ! be thou our fervent advocate with 
God and bless this book, its author, transla- 
tor, and readers ! 



122 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

I. His Birthplace and Early Youth. 

The native place of this distinguished fa- 
vorite of God was the city of Taranto in 
.Apulia, always most intimately united to the 
Holy See. Here he first saw the light, No- 
vember 16, 1729, and was baptized the same 
day, receiving the name of Francis Antony 
Paschal; afterwards, when he became a lay- 
Brother, he took the name of Egidius. As 
his parents were pious and God-fearing, they 
early instilled into their child virtue and the 
love of God. They were especially anxious 
that he should preserve his baptismal inno- 
cence. They did not permit him to play much 
with other children ; nevertheless, he passed 
his childhood serenely, and he was happy in 
the Lord, 

At ten years of age he made his first Com- 
munion^ and soon after he was confirmed in 
the Cathedral of his native place. A little 
later he was apprenticed to a furrier, under 
whose care he developed such solidity of 
character and exercised such a good influence 
over those with whom he came in contact, 
that the workshop resembled an oratory. 
Afterwards, when, as Brother Egidius, he 



Brother Egidius Mary of St, Joseph. 123 

wrought great miracles, his former master 
used to say: " Did I not always say that our 
Francis Antony was a saint, even when he 
was with us ? " 

Early in the morning, before he went to 
work, Francis Antony heard Mass; then he 
labored cheerfully till night. His only recre- 
ation was this, — to accompany the priest when 
he carried the Most Blessed Sacrament to a 
sick person. Losing his father, whom he loved 
tenderly, when he was eighteen years old, he 
was thenceforth obliged to support himself 
and his widowed mother. In order to earn 
more money, he became a ropemaker. Soon 
after this, his mother married again; his step- 
father was a good man and treated him kindly, 
relieving him from the obligation of provid- 
ing for the family. He even allowed him to 
spend his earnings as he pleased. This was 
a great pleasure to him, for he was tenderly 
compassionate to the poor. The Sunday was 
all his own. He was early admitted to the 
Arch-Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, and 
gave universal edification therein. Hitherto 
he had devoted one half of his wages to the 
poor, now he gave still more. Neverthe- 
less he reserved a certain portion, which he in- 



124 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

struGted his uncle to put away for him, so that 
he might later be able to enter an Order. 

His confessor, when he heard that he desired 
to be a Brother, put him on probation^ giving 
him, as a penance, a command not to go out 
of the house for a whole year, except to at- 
tend Mass on Sundays and holy-days. Fran- 
cis Antony accepted this penance cheerfully 
and performed it conscientiously. The hard- 
est thing about it was, that he could no longer 
accompany the Most Holy Sacrament through 
the streets. 

When this year of penance was over, he 
made a nine days' Retreat, in order to learn 
God's will, as to which of the various Relig- 
ious Orders He desired him to enter. On the 
seventh day he saw, as in a vision, a Father 
and a lay-Brother of the Order of St. Peter 
of Alcantara, a very austere Order for Peni- 
tents. Both invited him in a friendly manner 
to follow them. The next day he applied at 
the monastery of the Order of St. Peter of 
Alcantara for admission. They considered 
him a sort of crank, and gave him no decided 
answer. Very much cast down, he went into 
the church to pray. What a surprise awaited 
him ! There, depicted in the altar-piece, he 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph, 125 

saw the two Religious, exactly as he had seen 
them in his vision; it was St. Peter of Alcan- 
tara and St. Francis Paschal Filled with joy, 
he hastened to his confessor and faithfully 
related everything to him. He decided that 
it was God's will he should enter this Order. 
He once more asked for admission and was 
finally received, February, 1754, when he was 
twenty-four years and two months old. 

II. In the Convent. 

Francis Antony wa's sent to the province 
of Lerre in Gelatone, for his novitiate. Over- 
flowing with joy, he took leave of his family, 
and hastened away to his new home. What 
others are obliged to struggle laboriously to 
attain, he brought with him, — real virtue and 
perfection. At the end of eight days he re- 
ceived the habit and the name of Egidius, 
Being a devout client of the Blessed Virgin, 
he asked to have added to his name " of the 
Mother of God." It was granted. 

In the novitiate he developed so many 
and such sublime virtues, that the whole Con- 
fraternity esteemed and admired him highly. 
He was a model for all, surpassing even the 
oldest and most pious of the Brotherhood in 



126 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

the virtues of meekness and humility, in his 
austerities and his love of solitude and silence, 
in his cheerful obedience and fervent prayer. 
When, on the 28th of February, 1755, he glad- 
ly and solemnly pronounced the three vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience, he had only 
one request to make, — that he might add to 
his name, " of St. Joseph." We shall there- 
fore speak of him hereafter as " Egidius of 
St. Joseph." 

Soon after his profession, Brother Egidius 
was sent to Naples, the city of St. Januarius, 
whither so many saints had already travelled, 
but where alsQ much sin and vice have been 
committed. There he was to be, for many 
years, a spectacle to men and angels. 

His superior first appointed him cook and 
also weaver for the convent. In all his busi- 
ness affairs he showed such sincere modesty, 
exact punctuality, and such great conscien- 
tiousness, that he was soon promoted to the 
important office of porter. At that time, 
especially, it was requisite that a porter in a " 
Neapolitan convent should possess great 
patience, intense love for the poor, and pru- 
dence and circumspection, being obliged to 
mingle with all sorts of people. Every con- 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph, 127 

vent in Naples is judged by its porter. It 
happened that the monastery in which 
Egidius was porter soon gained the confidence 
of all, high and low, as he combined friend- 
liness with caution, zeal with discretion, love 
with the gravity of a father, humility with 
firmness. The people soon began to rever- 
ence him as a saint, and many recommended 
themselves earnestly to his prayers. 

Possessing thus the universal confidence, 
it was not long before Egidius was appointed 
questor to the convent. Everywhere he went, 
he was received with the greatest respect and 
confidence. All admired him, whether walk- 
ing the streets or visiting the houses. He soon 
became the support and bread-winner of his 
religious brethren, the consoler of many sor- 
rowful souls, the' help of the weak and sick. 

He observed the severe rules of his Order 
with an exactness that reminded one of a 
hermit in an Egyptian Thebaid. He kept the 
slightest precept until old age with almost 
scrupulous fidelity. 

He was blindly obedient to the will of his 
superiors, and he loved poverty in the highest 
degree. A small piece of bread was his daily 
food. An angelic sweetness was constantly 



128 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

reflected on his countenance. He felt and 
manifested an intense reverence and an un- 
feigned, self-sacrificing love for priests, and 
he had the compassionate charity of a mother 
for the poor. 

After collecting alms all day in the streets 
of the great city and indefatigably performing 
works of charity, he would spend many hours 
of the night praying in the church. There 
he entertained himself with Jesus in the 
Most Holy Sacrament, and with his Mother, 
as he called the Blessed Virgin. Those who 
heard him could not say enough as to his 
wisdom and eloquence in these silent hours 
of the night. His brethren often wondered 
how a man could live with so little food and 
sleep, and especially one who labored so, 
but with God all things are possible. 

III. The Saint in Public. 

" The public life of a poor cook, a weaver, 
a porter, and questor for a convent of such 
strict observance! '' many of my readers may 
exclaim, "and in a city like Naples! " Yes, 
such must be the heading of the present 
chapter. Seldom, indeed, it is, that a man of 
such humble extraction and in such a subor- 



Brother Egidius Mary of St, Joseph, 1 29 

dinate station in life is so universally beloved, 
so often spoken of, and sought for with so 
much interest, as our lay-Brother, Egidius of 
St. Joseph. 

There was at that time no street, house, 
nor corner in the large city of Naples, where 
some work of love, some wise word, or some 
miracle of Brother Egidius could not be cited. 

The royal court, the ministers and magis- 
trates, the highest nobility of Naples, mer- 
chants, citizens, the common people, in a word, 
everybody, knew the humble and loving 
Brother. His name was spoken with rever- 
ence. Brother Egidius was a celebrity; every 
one desired to know him, draw near to him, 
speak to him, be it to learn from him the 
future, to be freed by him from illness, to 
receive assistance and consolation from Al- 
mighty God, through him. Although not a 
priest, he was all things to all men. He lived 
only for God and for the comfort of poor 
humanity. They still tell to this day, in 
Naples, the prophecies and miracles of this 
poor lay-Brother, whilst the names of re- 
nowned, illustrious, and wealthy men and 
women are forgotten and extinct. 

Brother Egidius possessed a peculiar power 



1 30 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

over the hearts, and, what is still more, over 
the purses of men. He always had money 
and means in abundance ; his convent re- 
ceived more than it needed; he gave away 
thousands liberally, and with the surplus he 
beautified the convent church. Brother 
Egidius was indeed, as we have said, a rich 
poor man. Alas! how many poor rich men 
are there not in our days in Naples as well as 
in the time of our good Brother. Why ? Be- 
cause so few consider Our Lord's words: 
^* Seek first the kingdom of God and its justice, 
and all things else shall be added unto you! " 

Nobody could refuse the noble-hearted, 
hupble, Egidius. The people gave to him 
liberally, even unasked, for they knew he al- 
ways thought of himself last. In this way he 
went through life, distributing favors and 
kindnesses. If every large city possessed a 
Brother Egidius, the most pressing question 
of the hour, the social or domestic problem, 
would be in a great measure solved. But 
the age and the people must be worthy of 
such men. They must be obtained through 
prayer. 

Whence the renown of this poor Brother? 
What gave him so wide an influence over 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph, 1 3 1 

tnen ? Mainly his living faith. Without sci- 
entific culture, Egidius lived by faith alone. 
Hence his reverence for God, for Jesus 
Christ, for the names of Mary and Joseph; 
hence, too, his intense veneration for the Most 
Blessed Sacrament. During the holy Sacri- 
fice of the Mass and at holy Communion, he 
was perfectly absorbed and in an ecstasy, be- 
cause of his firm and lively faith in the real 
presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eu- 
charist. In the house of God he was devout 
and happy. Even in old age he was to be 
seen, for hours at a time, kneeling there in 
prayer. Whenever he met a priest, he bowed 
profoundly before him, so highly did he es- 
teem the sacerdotal dignity. He had special 
reverence for the word of God, listening to it 
as often as he could, and feeling grateful for 
every instruction. His spirit of prayer was 
so remarkable^ that he might be said to have 
literally fulfilled the admonition of Our Lord: 
^^ Pray always! '' He loved to meditate on 
the bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
The crucifix was his favorite book, in which 
he always loved to read, and always with 
profit. Every one, even the most simple, un- 
derstands the language of the Cross. 



1 32 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

IV. Strong in Hope and ardent in Love. 

- From childhood up, Brother Egidius made 
the beautiful and consoling virtue of hope 
peculiarly his own. When he was praying, 
his countenance glowed with the reflection of 
holy joy. How often he was heard to ex- 
claim: " My Jesus! save my soul! '* " Afa- 
donna mia, help me in the work of my salva- 
tion! " "St. Joseph! conduct me into Para- 
dise! " A favorite expression of his was this: 
" I am a poor sinner, but I confidently hope 
for eternal life through the mercy of God! '* 
What humility and confidence are to be found 
in these words! His entire life was permeated 
with the breath of. hope. " This is not my 
fixed abode ; I am a pilgrim ; my home is 
above! " These and similar expressions were 
frequently employed by him. 

Having the most implicit confidence in 
God, he sought to arouse the gift of hope in 
others. " Let us care only for God," he 
would say, " placing our confidence altogether 
in Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! " These were 
his usual forms of expression, and what he 
preached, he himself practised. Hence his 
untroubled serenity, his calmness under all 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph, 133 

circumstances. Egidius was really strong in 
hope, but he was also a hero of divine love. 
He never bartered the friendship of God for 
a mortal sin. 

*^ Whosoever hath my commandments and 
keepeth them, he it is who loveth me.'* 
Brother Egidius kept all the commands of 
God and of the Church, and the rules of his 
Order, cheerfully and exactly, and thus he 
proved his love. On this point, all who knew 
him are unanimous. 

Like the Blessed Francis of the Child 
Jesus, Brother Egidius had a most tender 
and ardent love for the Infant Jesus. When, 
at Christmas-tide, he meditated upon the 
Divine Infant in the manger, the hot tears 
poured down his cheeks. He spoke of the 
Holy Child like one inspired! It almost 
seemed as though his listeners heard in him 
the seraphic Francis of Assisi! Whoever saw 
him receive holy Communion never after- 
wards forgot the thrilling sight. 

One of his principal joys was to burn a 
large number of candles on the altar at the 
Forty Hours' Devotion. For this, and also 
for the services on Maundy Thursday, he 
would beg through the entire city. 



1 34 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

When some one reproached him with extra- 
vagance in using, on these occasions, what 
belonged to his superiors, he would answer 
very modestly: "I cannot see my Lord and 
my God treated so shabbily upon His altar! " 
When he saw the Blessed Sacrament in a 
blaze of lights, he would be perfectly happy, 
and, running in haste to the sacristan, he 
would cry out: " Behold, how beautiful Our 
Lord Jesus Christ appears! " Divine love 
had, as it were, set him wholly on fire. 

He venerated deeply the Blessed and Im- 
maculate Mother of God, and her ever chaste 
spouse, St. Joseph, whose pure body, he al- 
ways maintained, had never been subject to 
the corruption of the grave. From his youth 
up, he loved to recite the holy Rosary; and 
it seemed appropriate that his canonization 
should occur in the year in which Leo XIIL, 
the Pope of the most holy Rosary^ celebrated 
his Golden Jubilee. No former Sovereign 
Pontiff ever did as much as our present holy 
Father to promote this devotion. 

He had a picture of the Madonna specially 
prepared, and he called it " Our Lady of the 
Well." This he used to adorn most beauti- 
fully, hanging wreaths of flowers round it 



Brother Egidius Mary of St, Joseph, 135 

and burning four candles before it, espe- 
cially on the feast of the Annunciation, 
on all Saturdays, and during the month of 
May. 

He continually recommended the cultiva- 
tion of devotion to the " Health of the sick," 
and to the "Comfortress of the afflicted," to 
all his diseased and poor clients. He also en- 
deavored to enkindle devotion to St. Joseph, 
through whose intercession he, like St. Te- 
resa, received everything for which he asked. 
He honored, with an especial confidence, St. 
Francis of Assisi and St. Peter of Alcan- 
tara, to whom he bore so striking a resem- 
blance. 

V. Genuine Fraternal Charity. 

Egidius was a friend of the people in the 
fullest and most pleasing acceptation of the 
term. To be all to all was his sweetest en- 
deavor; to be eyes to the blind, hands and 
feet to the lame. His favorites were the poor 
and the sick, the sad and the afflicted. The 
great Saint Vincent de Paul said: " Real love 
of God should show itself in genuine love of 
the neighbor." This was literally the case 
with Brother Egidius. He saw, in every bap- 



136 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

tized man, the image of God (a dearly pur- 
chased treasure), the temple of the Holy 
Ghost. Thus it happened, that every one 
was to him worthy and in need of love, in his 
character of exile in this valley of tears. 

Above all, the immortal souls of his neigh- 
bors were uppermost in his heart. His first 
care, therefore, was to try to benefit souls. 
When asked to pray for some one, he would 
say: " Go to confession ; give up your bad 
life; be reconciled to God; receive devoutly 
the holy sacraments; in this way, God will 
be moved to hear you." Very many took 
his admonitions and warnings to heart and 
changed their lives. 

He was called, almost daily, to the sick, in 
order that he might cure them. Taking with 
him a picture of the B. V. M. and the relics of 
St. Paschal Babylon, he gave the sick person 
his blessing, exhorted him to confidence in 
God and a devout reception of the sacraments, 
urging him to bear his pains and sufferings 
with patience, accepting them as a visitation 
from Almighty God. 

A special blessing seemed to rest upon the 
alms which the Brother collected so patiently 
for his convent. Never did his monastery 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph. 137 

suffer want; he himself, with the permission 
of his superiors, liberally supplied the poor. 
When the pestilence raged in Naples, day 
and night he indefatigably visited and com- 
forted his brethren and the sick of the city. 
He took with him, for their use, precious 
honey, which he had blessed. He was the 
special comforter of the deserving and unob- 
trusive poor. He conferred untold benefits 
on the people, during the time of war. As 
for himself,- he was always quite content with 
the plain convent soup. Thus, for ten long 
years, he was the wandering, but merciful, 
providence of Naples. His great charity, 
however, was regulated by a singular pru- 
dence. He understood well the words of Our 
Lord, " Be ye wise as serpents," and yet one 
could see in him the behavior of a man who 
had taken to heart those other words of Eternal 
Truth: " Except ye become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
The A B C of wisdom is to aim at saving 
one's own soul. This was our Brother's 
principal precept, " Save your soul ! " and 
to fulfil it was his first care. How many 
there are who are concerned about others' 
souls, who nevertheless forget their own ! 



138 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Not so with Egidius of St. Joseph ! His 
entrance into the severe Order of St. Peter of 
Alcantara is the best proof of this. 

In all his labors, prayers, and vigils, Egidius 
retained a calm, serene spirit. " He is full of 
sweet wine," might evil men daily have said 
of him, who drank only the Apostles' wine, — 
that is, clear water, the source of true health 
and strength. Devout without artifice, affec- 
tionate without self-interest, Egidius was 
friendly, without being a respecter of persons 
and thereby judicious and faithful to the 
strict rules of his Order. This won him all 
hearts. Many asked his advice about the 
choice of a state of life, and every one who 
followed his counsels was happy and con- 
tented. In his simplicity, he spoke ever the 
unvarnished truth, even though it often 
brought upon him many difficulties. When 
his superior reproached him for this he gave 
for his answer : " What can they do to us ? " 
He was uniformly mild and peaceful and re- 
turned good for evil. He knew nothing of 
revenge in the midst of the greatest calum- 
nies and trials. A truly golden soul ! If you 
would properly venerate this new Saint, be 
slow to anger, and ready to forgive. 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph. 139 

VI. Humble of Heart 

Justice is the necessary and secure founda- 
tion of love. Egidius was, in a high degree, 
just. He combined with this cardinal virtue 
great moderation and courage. His zeal for 
souls was prudent and enlightened, knowing 
well that a bHnd zeal does more harm than 
good. All that this wonderful man did was 
accomplished by his humility. 

Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom and 
goodness, willed that this simple lay-Brother 
should work miracles among the poor people, 
in the name of Jesus. This won him high 
esteem in the populous city of Naples. He 
was universally looked upon as a saint. Ev- 
ery day multitudes followed him or sought 
him out to recommend themselves to his 
prayers. With all this, he maintained a poor 
opinion of himself, and he was ever conscious 
of his own lowliness and misery. " What do 
you want from me ? " — he would say ; " go 
into the church and recommend yourself to 
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I am only a poor, 
sinful man ! " 

When the multitudes pressed around him, 
he would say : " What can / do ? Go to 



I40 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Brother Francis, he it is who is truly humble 
—not I ! '' 

So great was the confidence of the Neapol- 
itans in Brother Egidius, that they considered 
themselves happy if they could obtain a piece 
of his habit or of his cloak as a relic. He 
often returned home from his charitable quests 
with his cloak cut to pieces. He could not im- 
agine why the people should so beset him, and 
was oftentimes somewhat indignant at them, 
because he thought the assaults upon his poor 
clothing would prove a loss to his convent. 
When he was reproached at home for his 
damaged cloak, he would say: " How can I 
help it ? What do they want from an old 
man like me ? I cannot imagine what pleas- 
ure it can give them to have a little piece of 
my habit ! " It never occurred to him that 
his virtues and his power of working miracles 
caused the people to act in this way. 

The cook in the convent treated him rude- 
ly, because Egidius often came home too late 
for the first table. This was not because he 
wished to disobey the rules of the house, but 
because he had been detained in the streets 
against his will. When the cook reproached 
him, however, Egidius would keep silence, or 



I 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph. 141 

meekly beg pardon of the angry Brother, 
which gradually had the effect of silencing his 
rude remarks. 

Truly humble as he was, Egidius surround- 
ed every one in the house with evidences of 
brotherly love and entertained the greatest 
respect for all. He never gave way to violent 
language. He saw, in every one, Jesus 
Christ, the Lord, so that whatever he did was 
done gladly and cheerfully. 

This pious Brother was no respecter of per- 
sons. Numbers came to him for advice and 
help, or to ask his prayers; he treated all 
with equal love, and, wishing to make all of 
them contented, he always sent them away 
comforted. 

No one, no matter how importunate, ever 
heard a word of complaint from his hps. 
There was only one thing that saddened him, 
and that was that they should consider him a 
saint, whereas he deemed himself a poor 
sinner. That peace of soul was always his, 
which Jesus promised to the humble. 

VII. Egidius the Perfect Religious. 

As Egidius joyfully kept the command- 
ments of God, so he gladly fulfilled the three 



142 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

evangelical counsels to which he had bound 
himself by his religious profession. 

He loved poverty above all things and re- 
joiced at an opportunity of practising it. 
His cell was the most uncomfortable in the 
entire convent. He always wore the poorest 
clothes, and was always looking out for the 
worst things for himself. Every month he 
rendered an exact account to his superiors. 
Poverty was his precious spouse, and he dear- 
ly loved to embrace her livery, food, dress, 
and abode, even until his old age. Sickness 
and suffering could not move him to claim 
any exemption in this respect. 

With regard to his purity of soul and body, 
Egidius was so scrupulously exact, that he 
would not even speak willingly of this virtue, 
lest some unbecoming thought might arise in 
his soul. His constant intercourse with all 
sorts of people never seemed to place his soul 
in jeopardy. Like the three children in the 
fiery furnace, he remained unscathed in the 
midst of the flames. He walked circumspect- 
ly, avoiding the occasions of sin, keeping his 
body strictly in subjection. He also took the 
discipHne regularly, and wore a sharp pointed 
chain around his waist. 



Brother Egidius Mary of St, Joseph, 143 

And what shall I say of his obedience ? 
As the angels obey God, so did Egidius obey 
his superiors, — promptly and cheerfully. As 
a son, in the home of his parents, and after- 
wards as an apprentice and journeyman living 
with his master, he had been accustomed to 
this. Once, when a superior suspected him 
wrongly, and, on account of the crowds that 
followed him, forbade him to collect alms 
as before, he obeyed unhesitatingly. He 
never defended himself when he was obliged 
to suffer unjustly. He kept silent, and bore 
all for the love of God, — an incomparable 
model of obedience. Even when he foresaw 
that his obeying orders given him would not 
redound to the good of his Order, he carried 
out all their requirements, because he knew 
that it was profitable for his own soul at any 
rate. Thus he made himself a worthy instru- 
ment of God, who gave him the gifts of 
prophecy and miracles. 

He foretold to many certain misfortune or 
a sudden death; he made known to a number 
of parents what vocation their children would 
embrace. His words came true in every 
instance, and thus his authority and influence 
over the people continued to increase. He 



144 ^^^ Blessed Ones of 1888, 

was constantly asked to be god-father for 
male children. When an accident or calamity 
happened, people asked his advice and help, 
and he always knew what was the right 
course to pursue. Once, when a man of high 
rank kissed his hand, he said very gravely : 
** Give up your evil life and go to confession; 
otherwise you will go into eternal darkness." 
This unfortunate man cast his words of warn- 
ing to the winds, and died a sudden and 
unprovided death. 

Brother Egidius wrought many remarkable 
and incontestable miracles. He could not 
fail to be well known in Naples, and was 
esteemed and loved by the good. The incor- 
rigible were the only ones who feared the 
servant of God, and kept out of his way. His 
fame grew with his years. His course through 
the city was like a triumphal procession^ as 
such numbers of people always accompanied , 
the simple-hearted Brother. In order to pro- 
tect his cloak they covered it with a sort of 
net-work. Every day there was a crowd of 
people waiting for him outside the convent 
gates, watching to see him pass out. Even 
prominent and illustrious men^ ministers and 
statesmen, recommended themselves to his 



Brother Egidius Mary of St. Joseph. 145 

prayers, asked his advice, or begged his help 
in. sickness. On one occasion Joseph Bona- 
parte had him- called into his presence. 
Under all these circumstances Egidius con- 
tinued to be humble as a child. 

VIII. A Peaceful Departure. 

Death is but the echo of life. He that has 
lived well cannot die ill. Holy in life, the 
death of this Saint was precious. Just one 
year before he was called home, — he was then 
*eighty-two years old, — he fell dangerously ill. 
Through obedience, he received the last 
sacraments, because the doctor and his 
brethren thought the end was near, but he 
said: "I will not die now, I must stay an- 
other year on earth ; my blessed Mother has 
told me so, that I may continue to light up the 
candles before her image.'* 

It was so. To the great joy of his convent 
and of the entire city of Naples, the venerable 
man soon recovered. Then came weary 
months, full of pain and affliction. The 
weaker, however, his body grew, the fresher 
waxed his soul. He had many sufferings to 
contend with. The severe cough that had 
so long troubled him became worse; besides. 



146 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

he suffered with an oppression on the chest, 
and finally dropsy of the heart se-t in. Pre- 
cious, indeed, was the cross which God sent 
to His dearest servant before his death. 

Finally, in February, 181 2, his last hour ap- 
proached. He foretold his death and even 
the hour thereof. It was touching to hear 
him begging pardon of all his brethren for 
the trouble he had given them. Two. hours 
before his death, he exclaimed aloud: "O 
Mother mine, O dear St. Joseph ! come and 
conduct me into Paradise ! Hear me ! Oh, 
hear my prayer ! " He expired calmly, Feb- 
ruary 7, 181 2, at the age of eighty-three. 

For five days his body lay in state in the 
little church of the monastery. The con- 
course that took its way to the silent cloister 
was like a grand pilgrimage. All Naples was 
afoot, mournful, and distressed. It was nec- 
essary to appoint watchers, that the body 
might not be disturbed by the fervor of the 
populace. The funeral was larger than that 
of many a prince. All day long, persons 
talked of Brother Egidius. The voice of the 
people was unanimous in this verdict : *' He 
was a saint ! " 




JBJU. JOi^tDir^i^IISll:^: IvIAKV OI^ ST. AOMES. 



AN ANGEL IN THE FLESH. 





ORN in a little town in Spain, and 
early left an orphan, this holy virgin, 
from the age of eighteen years, 
dwelt within the walls of a convent now little 
known. In 1887, she shared in the great 
honor of being beatified in company with 
Fathers Clement Hofbauer and Grignon de 
Montfort, and Brother Egidius of St. Joseph. 
How dissimilar in life were these four servants 
of God, and yet, to-day, they are placed side 
by side, upon our sacred altars! 

I. A Chosen Soul from Youth up. 

Spain, that country so much lauded in 
song, so fruitful in saints and in poets, once 



150 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

so rich and mighty, that land in which the 
body of St. James reposes, — was the father- 
land of the saintly Josephine of St. Agnes. 
Near Valencia^ that city abounding with 
groves of oranges and lemons, lies the town 
of Beniganim, rendered famous by this holy 
virgin. Here, in a poor and humble Httle 
house, she came into the world, February 9th, 
1625, when Urban VIII. reigned as Sovereign 
Pontiff in Rome. 

Her father was Louis Albinana, her moth- 
er, Vincencia Gomar, — pious, simple-hearted 
peasants. They gave their daughter good 
Christian training. As there was no law of 
compulsory education in that place, Mary 
attended no school. ^ She learned neither 
reading nor writing, nor had she any idea of 
arithmetic. These drawbacks, according to 
worldly views, did not prevent her from attain- 
ing the highest honor that this earth can 
give, — that of being raised upon the altars 
of the Church. 

In our times, when so many who have 
never learned even the ABC of Christianity, 
distress themselves about the school-question, 
it is a significant fact that a maiden who 
could neither read nor write should have 



Sister Josephine Mary. 151 

been elevated so high. Many, perhaps, who 
do not understand the meaning of the phrase: 
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,'* may be 
scandalized at this. 

In her childhood Josephine did not associate 
with other children. At the early age of five 
years she had an ecstasy. She was accus- 
tomed to recite certain prayers, kneeling, 
every night before retiring. Upon one occa- 
sion she forgot to say these prayers. Sud- 
denly remembering this, she got up and 
recited them with great fervor and devotion. 
Her mother saw the pious, conscientious 
child^ with her little hands crossed upon her 
breast, raised up from the floor and hovering 
in the air. At eight years of age she was 
confirmed and made her first Communion. 
She thereby advanced so rapidly in piety that 
it was reflected in her countenance, as in a 
mirror. To the joy of her pastor. Rev. J. B. 
Loris, she contributed to the edification of 
every one by her angelic piety, especially in 
church. 

Whilst still very young, she lost her father. 
Her uncle, Bartholomew Tudela, the mayor 
of the city, 'adopted the little orphan and 
took her home with him. There she had all 



152 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

sorts of light work to perform, and especially 
the washing of the children's underwear ; 
this she did well and cheerfully. Whilst at 
work she was always occupied with God, 
walking constantly in His presence. Once 
the Holy Infant appeared to her and said 
very sweetly : " Josephine, wilt thou be My 
spouse ? " She had the same vision on an- 
other occasion, in her parish church. He then 
said : " Josephine, as My spouse, — dost thou 
long for Me as I long for thee ? " On both 
of these occasions Jesus was surrounded by 
a starry halo. Josephine answered: " My God 
and my Redeemer ! my dearest Lord ! here 
is Thy unworthy hand-maid, ready to do 
Thy holy will and to obey Thee in all things ! " 
Our Saint had a special love from early 
childhood for the virtue of chastity. She 
vehemently resisted her uncle's importunities 
that she should get married. " I have no 
other spouse but Christ," said she, quite 
decidedly. Once she was obliged to help the 
farmer's man fill a sack with wheat, in the 
granary. The youth, taking advantage of 
being alone with her, attempted some unbe- 
coming jests. Far from laughing at his 
famiharity, she turned upon him, and giving 



Sister Josephine Mary. 153 

him a sounding box on the ear, said: " Take 
that, and know that I am a virgin ! " She 
then sprang quickly down from the granary- 
window, and did not return until the rest of 
her uncle's household came home. The win- 
dow by which she effected her escape is still 
to be seen. It is so small that it seems al- 
most impossible that she should have gottea 
through so tiny an opening, and what was- 
more wonderful, she did not hurt herself in 
the least by this leap. This miracle was men-^ 
tioned in her funeral sermon. 

O blessed rebuke, born of a heroic cour- 
age and purity ! If all the daughters of our 
land would but reply in this emphatic style 
to the first attempt at familiarity, how much 
better it would be for them, even in this world! 
Imitate her, young maidens, when your vir- 
ginal honor and dignity are in danger ! 

The farmer's man saw his fault, and, enter- 
ing into himself, he confessed his sin, wept 
over it, and became converted. We would 
certainly have better men, if our young Catho- 
lic maidens, like Josephine, would, under sim- 
ilar circumstances, flee at once from danger. 

On another occasion, seeing two of the 
servants acting rather too familiarly towards 



154 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

each other, she seized a stick, and, rushing 
upon them, drove them away. She likewise 
told her uncle about them. From that time 
the devil hated and persecuted her to the 
utmost. He excited her uncle's anger against 
her. The dog, one day, stole and ate a piece 
of suet, — ^but her uncle declared it was she 
who did it. He became so angry at her, that 
in his rage he caught up a gun and, taking 
aim, fired at her. It was loaded with two 
balls, which both passed harmlessly by, and 
struck the wall. God thus preserved this 
favored soul. The holes made by the bullets 
in the wall are to be seen to this day. Every 
time they tried to fill up these openings with 
lime and mortar, the plaster would immediate- 
ly fall off. 

Josephine was so terrified at her uncle's vio- 
lence, that she took heart disease, from which 
she suffered all the rest of her life. The 
attacks sometimes became so severe, that she 
fell powerless to the ground, especially when 
she was offering up her penance for the holy 
souls, as was frequently her custom. 

In her uncle's garden there was an orange 
tree, which Josephine had planted; its roots 
grew upwards, and its branches down ; this 



Sister Josephine Mary. 155 

tree is visited and admired by strangers even 
at the present day. 

The pious virgin entertained a strong de- 
sire of entering a rehgious Order. As she 
was poor and illiterate, she had very little 
hope of the fulfilment of her wishes. She 
daily beheld the convent of the Discalced 
Augustinian Nuns, and the sight thereof in- 
creased her desire of becoming a religious. 
She often knocked at the door and cried out: 
" Will you have me ? Alas ! I am poor and 
unlearned ! " She prayed fervently to our 
dear Lord that He would grant her the happi- 
ness she craved. She communicated her 
heart's wishes to her confessor. He spoke of 
it to the estimable ladies at the convent, 
among whom was her father's sister. Once, 
when she went to the gate of the convent 
garden, she met her aunt and the superioress 
Leocadia. They both said to her: " Josephine, 
would you really like to be a nun ? " She 
answered: "Yes, very gladly; it is the sole 
desire of my heart ! " 

Filled with joy, she hastened home and told 
her uncle. He said jokingly: " If you enter 
the convent to-day, you will run away from it 
to-morrow/' " Far from it," said she, " for, with 



1 56 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

the help of God, I will stay there all my life! " 
After a few days she asked the superioress: 
*^ Mother, will you admit me ? " Sobbing, and 
in the most glowing terms, she preferred her 
wish, but in vain. Every time after that, when 
she passed by the convent, she would say de- 
voutly: " When, O Lord! shall I be so happy 
as to dwell in Thy house ? When shall I be 
numbered amongst Thy spouses ? " She hoped 
even against hope. At length, after many 
drawbacks, she was admitted. She entered 
the convent, October 25th, 1643, and received 
the habit, June 26th, 1644. 

Satan did everything in his power to frus- 
trate this step. More than once, when she 
was entering the church, she was repulsed by 
some invisible force. During her reception, 
an earthquake occurred. Every one else ran 
out of the church but she; she remained 
quietly in her place and said to the priest, 
" Be not afraid, keep calm! The devil has 
caused this earthquake, for he is full of wrath 
at his inability to prevent my entrance into 
the convent." 

In the novitiate, she was a model of virtue. 
She was professed August 25th, 1645, receiv- 
ing the name of Josephine Mary of St. Agnes. 



Sister Josephine Mary, 157 

Almighty God soon sent her many interior 
trials. Once, in her anguish, she cried out to 
the novice-mistress: '' O dear Mother, for- 
give me for God's sake! I am so wicked that 
I can no longer endure myself! " She had 
many and great pains in various parts of her 
body. She bore everything quietly and 
peacefully; no complaint ever escaped her 
Hps. One day Our Lord said to her: ' ' Agnes, 
you must either suffer for three years in bed 
with gout, or remain dumb for three years. 
Consider, which will be better for you." She 
chose the latter, in order not to have to ne- 
glect her various duties. From that time she 
was dumb for three entire years and could 
speak only for a short time, on the principal 
festivals of the year. On those days her 
guardian angel placed an hour-glass beside 
her. As long as the sand continued to run, 
she spoke, like one inspired, on heavenly 
things, rejoicing aild edifying all who heard 
her. But as soon as the last grain of sand 
had run down, she immediately became dumb 
again. 

On one occasion Josephine grew so dan- 
gerously ill, that the Sacrament of Extreme 
Unction was administered to her. Soon after 



158 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

this she was thought to be dead. It seemed 
to her that she stood before her eternal Judge, 
who reproached her severely for every fault 
of her life. St. Teresa interceded for her 
and obtained permission for her to return to 
this life. During this ecstasy the sisters all 
saw in her cell a very beautiful white dove 
sitting at the foot of her crucifix. From that 
time, our Saint had a great fear of the judg- 
ment of God, and she would often exclaim: 
*^ Be careful to live and act well here, for 
hereafter you will be held to a strict ac- 
countability. 

The devil often appeared to her in a horri- 
ble form. Once, when she was washing in the 
garden-pond, he threw her into the water; 
but Our Saviour, with St. Teresa and her 
guardian angel, appeared and came to her 
rescue. The last named drew her out of the 
water. Soaking wet, she went back to the 
convent and told what had happened. 

Our Lord permitted His faithful spouse to 
suffer with Him and, as it were, accompany 
Him in His Passion. She endured every 
pain, from the Last Supper to the crucifixion, 
and at the same hour at which He had under- 
gone them. This showed itself outwardly so 



Sister Josephine Mary. 159 

plainly that all her sisters in religion could 
see through which portion of His bitter Pas- 
sion she was then passing. She had also to 
endure the torments of the poor souls in 
purgatory. She bore everything patiently 
and joyfully. She used to say: " God be 
praised that there are sufferings to be en- 
dured! " 

She treated her body as cruelly as though 
it were her bitterest enemy. She wore an in- 
strument of torture around her waist, as well 
as an iron chain. She often used the disci- 
pline to blood. Besides, she slept but very 
little, praying all the time^ either for the con- 
version of sinners or for the souls in purga- 
tory. For her resting-place she had a hard, 
miserable pallet. She wore the worst cloth- 
ing she could find. She never ate meat; 
bread and water being her usual fare. No 
one ever saw her idle. She made " the Way of 
the Cross " every day, and often several times 
a day, on her knees, part of the stations being 
in the choir and in the corridors of the con- 
vent, and the remainder outside in the garden. 

One evening, between six and seven, she 
felt urged to make '' the Way of the Cross." 
Suddenly she became conscious of feeling 



i6o The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

fatigued and weary after the labors of the 
day. Mindful of the exhaustion which Our 
Lord Jesus experienced, she went towards 
the first station, which was in the choir; there 
Christ appeared to her in a brown tunic, over 
which were sprinkled brilliant stars. He was 
bare-footed, carrying a large, heavy cross 
upon His shoulders. She cast herself humbly 
at His feet, with indescribable joy. and love. 
Perceiving that Our Lord never moved from 
the one spot, she arose and took the lower 
end of the cross, as Simon of Cyrene had 
once done. Our Lord began at once to make 
the remainder of the stations, pausing a short 
time at each stage of His Passion. She fol- 
lowed Him, at the same time continuing to 
help Him carry His cross. Under her feet 
she felt a rough, steep, stony path, which 
caused her much pain, although she was 
merely going through the corridors and gar- 
den of the convent. She also noticed that 
the sacred feet of Our Lord bled. At the 
last station she saw the Blessed Virgin, St. 
Mary Magdalene, and St. Martha. His holy 
Mother embraced Our Lord, whilst SS. Mag- 
dalene and Martha adored Him. Agnes, for 
so she was called in the convent, implored 



Sister Josephine Mary. i6i 

forgiveness of Our Lord and received from 
Him His gracious benediction, which made 
her intensely happy. 

On one occasion Christ crucified ap- 
peared to her, and whilst she gazed upon 
Him, He detached His arms from the cross 
and embraced her. Thereupon He impressed 
His image so deeply on her soul, that she 
appeared to be transformed and entirely 
united to Him. 

IL Innocent as the Dove. Glowing 
with Divine Love. 

Our Saint had not the slightest conception 
of vainglory or love of empty honor. The 
Archbishop of Valencia had heard many 
wonderful things of her, and he sent an Ora- 
torian to her to test her. He began in this 
manner: " Mother Agnes, how is it with you 
in the matter of ambition and vanity? " " Rev- 
erend Father," answered she, *^ I have not 
yet dressed myself up!" Then the Father 
said to himself: " Such simplicity as this, 
which does not even know what empty honor 
is, leaves me little room for examination! " 

When she was hastening to the rehef of the 
needy, assisting the sick or the dying, she al- 



1 62 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ways had a great deal to suffer from the devil, 
who was full of wrath against her. " Where 
are you going now, Agnes, — to deceive the 
world ? " he would say to her. " I don't un- 
derstand you," she would reply; " how can I 
deceive the world, when I do not go out on 
account of the world ? " 

She believed everything she was told. She 
could not suppose any one would say what he 
did not mean. Once, when she dropped a 
key into the well, she cried aloud. A sister, 
who knew her simplicity, said, jokingly, to 
her: ^'Take a fish-hook, fasten it to a rope, 
lower it into the well, and you will get the 
key back again." Agnes did as she was told. 
As she threw the hook down into the well, 
she saw the holy Child Jesus fastening the 
key to the hook. She called down to Him: 
"Dearest little Jesus! be careful and don't 
get drowned! " And she drew the key up 
joyfully. 

She had the care of the fowls belonging to 
the convent. Once, when she was bringing 
the hens their food, she saw Our Lord Jesus 
clad in a magnificent garment. She saluted 
Him reverentially, and said, sweetly and mod- 
estly: "This place is not very clean; you 



Sister Josephine Mary. 163 

might soil your beautiful robes; be very care- 
ful! '* Our Saviour answered: "Agnes! noth- 
ing offends Me but sin! "• 

A priest, who was an artist, managed to 
have her sit for her portrait. The prioress 
told her the artist wished to paint the dress 
of their Order, and that she might sit to him, 
as all the other sisters were then busy. The 
artist took several pictures of her; one of 
them was hung up in the convent. She heard 
some one say it was the picture of St. Christina, 
and she believed it. When an author, who was 
searching the archives of the convent, after- 
wards came there, she said to him: " Have 
you ever seen the picture of St. Christina ? 
Come, I will show it to you." She conducted 
him to her own portrait and said: " Just see 
how beautiful this saint was! I love her 
dearly because she was so devout to the holy 
souls." She did not recognize her own pic- 
ture; never having seen her own face in a 
looking-glass, she did not know how she 
looked! The shadowy forms of two of the 
holy souls were added to the picture. How 
many young women are there nowadays, who 
do not know how they look ? who have never 
yet seen their own faces in a looking-glass, 



1 64 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

nor gazed on their reflected images with 
pleasure ? 

On one occasion, when a priest came to the 
convent, the superioress brought her into the 
parlor to salute him. Agnes did so, saying: 
^* Reverend Father, you are heartily welcome." 
Then she hurried away to the superioress and 
asked her: " Mother, what shall I say now ? " 
She replied: " Tell him it affords you pleas- 
ure to make his acquaintance." This done, 
she returned to ask what she should say next. 
Thus the conversation was carried on. This 
holy soul knew better how to talk with 
Almighty God than with men. 

On the feast of St. Joseph, 1672, she was 
permitted to see how many souls were deliv- 
ered from Purgatory. St. Joseph having ap- 
peared to her, she said: " Holy Father Joseph, 
tell me, how many poor souls were released 
on this your name-day? " He answered: '' On 
the eve and during the feast, there were thirty 
times thirty souls set free from Purgatory." 
As she had no idea of numbers, the sis- 
ters told her, "There have been as many 
souls released to-day, as there are ants 
swarming round in Summer, searching for 
food." 



Sister Josephine Mary. 165 

Once, when the Augustinian Brother James 
Lopez came to the convent, they had noth- 
ing to set before him, not even eggs. There 
was great lamentation thereat, but Agnes said: 
" Don't worry, dear sisters, I know where 
there are eggs! " 

" Where can they be ? " said one. ^' Under 
the setting hen," said she. All the sisters 
laughed, but she said: ^^ The dear God will 
know how to make it all right." She went out 
and took two eggs from under the hen, carried 
them to the picture of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, asking her blessing on them; then she 
cooked them and set them before their guest. 
The Brother affirmed he had never before 
eaten anything better. 

When she was, one day, sitting meditating 
in her cell, and praying most lovingly to Our 
Lord, Jesus appeared to her as a child four 
years of age, clad in a wondrously beautiful 
crimson robe. She wished to prostrate her- 
self at his feet. The Holy Infant, however, 
drew back as children do, teasingly, when 
they will not let themselves be caught. Agnes 
ran after him, round the cell, her arms out- 
stretched, exclaiming: " Lord! I cannot catch 
you!" She told the other sisters that she 



1 66 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

had been honored by being permitted to play 
with the holy Infant Jesus. 

Once, when all the sisters were assembled 
together in the choir, Agnes saw Christ and 
His holy Mother enter, accompanied by 
numerous angels. Some of the latter played 
on instruments and made delicious music. 

When many of the saints came also, she 
said: " If any more of you come, we will have 
no more room in the choir." 

Again, on the eve of the feast of St. Teresa, 
after matins, when Te Deum was being chant- 
ed, she saw Christ comings in great beauty. 
Angels were carrying St. Teresa upon a gol- 
den throne. Under her mantle were all her 
daughters still living upon earth, whilst others, 
who were dead, accompanied her. Each car- 
ried a candle. One of their number went to 
Agnes and told her she had been a discalced 
Augustinian nun of Almansa, and was called 
Isabella of the Holy Cross. Agnes said to her: 
^' MyMother! if I could only get such a beauti- 
ful candle, it would please me greatly." She 
answered: " Such candles are not to be had 
on earth. Try to do great good now, until 
you come to us." 

On a certain Shrove Tuesday, whilst at 



Sister Josephine Mary. 167 

table, she felt an interior impulse to go to 
church. As soon as she could, she hastened 
thither; as the doors were shut, she raised the 
curtain from the latticed window, threw her- 
self on her knees and said: " Jesus, my Love! 
Lord of my heart ! I have heard Thy voice. 
In order that 1 might not be missing at table, 
I was not able to come at once. Pardon me, 
my Spouse! If Thou desirest to keep Shrove 
Tuesday with me, here I am, ready to do Thy 
will." 

Once, Agnes and the pious woman Frances 
were helping the masons in some work about 
the convent. It gave her pleasure to watch 
the workmen laying the bricks so evenly. 
Some one was heard knocking loudly at the 
gate. " Go, little one," (as she called Agnes,) 
"and see who is there," said Frances. She 
went and found no one there. Frances then 
guessed that Our Lord had called Agnes, and 
she told her to go. In a secluded corner 
Our Saviour appeared to her and gave her to 
understand that He had called her away be- 
cause she took such great pleasure in watching 
the men at work. From that time Agnes felt 
interiorly urged to forego all earthly pleas- 
ures^ even the most innocent. She had 



1 68 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

abundant compensation in the love of Jesus. 
That the Lord God set great store by the 
prayers of this simple innocent soul, is proven 
by the following fact: Towards the end of 
1671, and the beginning of 1672^ there were 
terrible inundations in Spain. Days of prayer 
and religious processions were ordered. Sis- 
ter Agnes prayed, too, that this visitation 
might be removed from her native country. 

Our Lord appeared to her and said: 
*^ Agnes, be silent ! Cease praying for this 
kingdom; this chastisement must not be re- 
moved.** It was revealed to her that the 
shameless excesses in dress of those times, 
especially on the part of the female sex^ had 
brought down upon their guilty heads this 
condign punishment. In this manner Al- 
mighty God chastises universal public sin. 

Her love for God was so ardent that she 
was frequently in an ecstasy which sometimes 
lasted for three days at a time. Her attitude 
at such times was in the form of a cross, im- 
movable, and filled with devotion; her body 
would become so light and, as it were, ethe- 
rialized, that a breath of wind could move it. 
She might be swayed to and fro, as the leaf 
of a tree can be moved, with the breath of 



Sister Josephine Mary, i6g 

one's mouth. In her raptures, she was often 
elevated to the ceiHng. 

Nothing was capable of weakening the 
divine love which glowed within her; neither 
sickness, nor anxiety, nor any sort of suffering. 
The holy Child Jesus once said to her : 
^^ Agnes, — bear this in mind^ — wilHngly or 
unwiUingly, all for the love of God ! " She 
tried to instill her love for Almighty God into 
all mankind, and she really succeeded in 
enkindling it in very many hearts. 

Her bodily ailments were numerous, espe- 
cially those of the chest and knees. A priest 
once asked her why she did not beg of God 
to free her from them ; she gave this answer: 
*^ I shall be vigilant and pray fervently. God 
knows my sufferings ; if it please Him that I 
shall be afflicted, it is all the same to me." 
Once, in a fever, she suffered from thirst. 
The doctor asked her if she was thirsty ; she 
answered: "A httle." After a few days he 
found that her tongue was so parched that it 
had become black as a coal. 

When Agnes was obliged to speak to any 
one, she always began with the pious ejacula- 
tion: " Blessed be the Most Holy Sacrament 
of the Altar!" She learned her intense 



I/O The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

reverence for the Holy Eucharist from the 
Blessed Virgin herself, — the latter having 
once said to her: '' Behold, Agnes, how' we 
should adore Jesus in the Sacred Host at the 
elevation ! " She then threw herself on her 
knees and kissed the floor. The spot kissed 
by her was changed into a plate of shining 
gold. Because of her devotion to the Blessed 
Sacrament, our saint had an intense rever- 
ence for priests. When it could be done, 
she always endeavored to prevent others from 
speaking of their faults or imperfections. 
She daily received the holy Communion. 
Whenever they wanted her, they always knew 
she could be found before the Tabernacle, 
where she spent every leisure moment. She 
was present at as many Masses as possible. 
If it happened that she had to remain at her 
work, during the week, and was unable to go 
into the church, all the walls would miracu- 
lously open, so that she might be able to see 
the altar, at the time of consecration. 

III. The three Vows. 

Our Saint kept faithfully the vows she 
made on the day of her profession. Her love 
for poverty was extraordinary. She always 



Sister Josephine Mary, 171 

preferred wearing the other sisters' cast-off 
clothing. They would often say to her: 
" Are you not ashamed to wear such a habit ? " 
And her reply was: " I do not even deserve 
to wear this ! On one occasion, when she re- 
ceived, as a gift, a beautiful new veil, it was 
only by virtue of holy obedience that she con- 
sented to wear it. "It is too good for me," 
so she urged ; " I do not deserve it." She was 
extremely concerned for the interests of her 
convent; she endeavored to save the com- 
munity all useless outlay of money. 

Intensely did she love virginal purity. 
Through modesty, she said nothing about an 
affection of the chest, from which she was 
suffering, lest she might have to expose the 
seat of the disease. Having learned from her 
Divine Spouse that the inundations (of which 
we have spoken) were a punishment on the 
people for their immodesty in dress, she im- 
pressively exhorted every one whom she met 
to be careful to observe modesty and decorum 
in this regard. She was able, during her Hfe- 
time, to help those who appealed to her, even 
in thought, in their temptations against holy 
purity. She was so pure and spotless, that she 
never even understood those expressions 



172 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

which young children of the present day too 
often comprehend. 

Not less exact than in the observance of 
her vows of poverty and chastity, was she in 
that of holy obedience. In all things the 
voice of her superiors was to her the voice of 
Go.d; at their will, she even came back im- 
mediately from her ecstasies; in fact^ it was 
sufficient for the superior to will, and she 
obeyed. She anticipated their wants, know- 
ing intuitively what they wanted of her. When 
asked how she knew that such an article was 
needed on such an occasion, she replied: 
<^ My guardian angel told me." This oc- 
curred so often, that it ceased to be consid- 
ered as remarkable. 

On August 2, 1693, the superioress was 
called to the sick-bed of Sister Agnes, who 
had been given up by the doctor. She was 
in an ecstasy, when the superioress said to 
her : ''• By virtue of holy obedience, I charge 
you to ask Our Lord not to permit you to die 
during the three years of my administration." 
Recovering from her ecstasy^ she said : *' I 
will not die yet ; — our Blessed Lady and Sis- 
ters Leocadia and Catharine have asked 
Almighty God to spare my life." 



Sister Josephine Mary. 1 73 

Through holy obedience, she had before 
this restored sight to a blind nun. 

Our Saint used to say : " If we had a 
broom-stick for a superioress, I would obey.'* 
When the devil tried to hinder her doing 
some labor of love, she said : ^^ I don't 
trouble myself about you ; I do what I am 
told through love for God." Because of her 
humility and cheerful obedience, the angels 
used to come and help her to cook and carry 
water. She always preferred the most menial 
occupations, doing gladly that which others 
would shrink from with disgust and aversion. 
"God be praised," said she one day, " that I 
am able to sweep and wash.'* She considered 
herself most miserable and unworthy, and 
frequently begged of God to make her hum- 
ble. Not satisfied with this low opinion of 
herself, she also desired others to judge her 
and consider her the same. When praised 
she grew sad, but whenever she was humili- 
ated she rejoiced. If any one asked her for 
instruction or consolation, she said : " It 
would be better for you to go to the priests ; 
they are appointed by Almighty God for that 
purpose." 

Our Lord richly rewarded her obedience 



1 74 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

and humility, and with extraordinary graces. 
The Archbishop of Valencia promoted her to 
the rank of a choir-sister. As she could 
not read, Our Saviour Himself taught her. 
Henceforward she read, but only whilst in 
choir. When she prayed for those who were 
possessed, the evil spirits fled, for they feared 
this humble soul. 

By a special grace, only once during her 
life was Agnes distracted at prayer. Our 
Lord immediately appeared to her and repri- 
manded her for the distraction, saying : 
*^ Agnes, this is not the proper time to think 
of your work." She prayed with unusual 
perseverance and with glowing fervor. She 
always knew how to combine prayer and 
labor. 

She was particularly fond of the church of 
San Salvador in Valencia, where ' spiritual 
exercises were held every Friday. As she 
was unable to attend these bodily, she often 
took part in them in spirit, especially the 
sermons. Jesus revealed to her that these 
exercises were highly pleasing to Him, 

She not only knew the past lives of men, 
but could also search their interior and read 
their future. What she prophesied always 



Sister Josephine Mary, 175 

came to pass. This helped to make her more 
and more loved by others. I will cite only 
one fact m proof of this : Almighty God 
once communicated to her that a certain 
pious religious would very soon die. • She 
revealed it to him. He wrote to her that he 
was then quite well, but that he would at once 
prepare for death. In eight days from that 
time he lay upon his funeral bier. 

To many she foretold death or recovery of 
health, and in every case it happened just as 
she had predicted. She was never mistaken 
when she revealed to others their interior 
condition, or manifested to them their secret 
thoughts. 

IV. Filled with Love for her Neighbor. 

God gave his pious servant the clearest 
insight into the state of this wicked world. 
He permitted her to learn how many grievous 
sins are committed, and he showed her the 
lamentable condition of the sinner. This 
filled her continually with profound sadness 
and tender pity, and caused in her a more 
painful heart-ache than that from which she 
suffered from her childhood up. She con- 
fessed that all her bodily pains were as noth- 



1 76 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ing, compared to the sufferings she underwent 
through compassion for sinners. Her fre- 
quent prayers and repeated use of the disci- 
pHne for the conversion of sinners aroused 
the intense wrath of the old Serpent. He 
would often bellow round the convent like 
an ox, neigh like a horse, grunt like a pig, 
and bark like a mad dog. All the nuns were 
afraid except Agnes, who remained quite 
calm. She mocked at his wrath, and never 
ceased to pray and offer her penitential works 
for sinners. 

She loved to admonish all with whom she 
came in contact, and to exhort them to receive 
the sacraments frequently. " Voluntary con- 
fessions are very profitable,*' said she, ^* but 
if compulsory, they are dangerous.*' 

She enjoyed undisturbed peace of soul, 
just because she was so humble. She tried 
to maintain peace in the hearts of others, or 
restore it to them if lost. Once, when she 
was hearing Mass, she begged her guardian 
angel to put a stop to a great evil which was 
then prevalent. In a certain Castilian city a 
riot broke out, which the authorities could 
not suppress. Many were killed, and many 
more were wounded. All attempts at restor- 



Sister Josephine Mary. 177 

ing peace and order were frustrated by the 
devil. Agnes offered such violence to heaven, 
praying long and devoutly to God, that the 
demon of discord was at length compelled to 
retire in confusion, and peace was restored. 

Our loving Saint helped the poor whenever 
and wherever she could. She worked at 
night making up garments for them out of 
her own old, worn-out clothing. One day, 
when a man asked her for an alms, she ran 
quickly to the superioress, who said : " Give 
him some bread." " Bread will not suffice 
for this poor man!" said Agnes. "Then," 
said the superioress, " give him two pieces of 
bread and two eggs." Filled with joy, Agnes 
did as she had been ordered. The poor man, 
in token of his gratitude, kissed the gifts and 
returned them to her with the words : " Take 
them back ; I care not for bread and eggs, 
but for hearts ! " And he disappeared. 

She received abundant alms for the poor, 
which, the more she divided them, the more 
plentifully the offermgs flowed in. She often 
deprived herself of food to give it to the 
needy. She prayed frequently for the spirit- 
ual and temporal authorities. Her prayers 
were not always granted. Many of those 



1 78 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

who recommended themselves to her would 
do nothing themselves towards their con- 
version, refusing to correspond with grace, 
and even continued to live in sin. When 
this was made known to her she grew very 
sad at heart, and she took upon herself many 
penitential works, in expiation of these peo- 
ple's sins. Her penances were well-pleasing 
to God, and were beneficial to those con- 
cerned. 

She would often hasten to a distance to 
help some suffering creature. Her body was 
at home in the convent, but her spirit was with 
the needy, now out upon the high seas, and 
again in a sick-room, or elsewhere. A poor 
woman suffering from melancholy was once on 
the point of taking her own life; she had even 
reached the lake where she intended drown- 
ing herself. Her angel guardian called up- 
on Agnes, who led her away from the water, 
at the same time freeing her soul from sad- 
ness and despair. The poor woman ap- 
proached the sacraments, which she had long 
neglected, and from that time lived a holy Hfe. 

A Franciscan monk went as a missionary to 
Japan. Before starting he recommended 
himself to our Saint's prayers. Some time 



Sister Josephine Mary. 1 79 

after this, about eight o'clock on a certain 
evening, several blessed spirits appeared to 
her and led her away to a distant place. 
Here she beheld the missionary quite deject- 
ed and sad. He had been considering the 
difficulties and dangers which awaited him, 
and was almost on the point of going home. 
Agnes prayed fervently for him, and she prom- 
ised to take upon herself various sufferings 
for his relief. All anxiety at once disappeared, 
and the good Franciscan, filled with joy and 
hope, continued in the heroic course he had 
begun in Japan. 

Thus Agnes was a helping angel to many, 
and this practical love for her neighbor was 
manifested by her even after her death. 
One day, a nun had mislaid her keys and 
could not find them. Full of confidence, she 
invoked our Saint : '' Agnes, dear Mother, I 
beg of you, give me my keys, for I need 
them." She immediately found them. 

During life and after death, the saints are 
everywhere the friends and benefactors of 
mankind. It is gratifying to us to know that, 
in all our needs, we have so many good 
friends and helpers in heaven. Oh ! that all 
readers of this book would venerate devoutly 



1 80 The Blessed Ones of 1888, 

these four new saints ! Our times are fruitful 
in sin and material distress ; Christendom 
seems to bleed from a thousand wounds. A 
prominent feature, too, is the large number 
of the insane in every country. On all 
sides we find that the poor-houses and 
asylums are entirely too small to hold the 
vast number of unhappy creatures brought 
to their doors. Blessed Agnes had great 
power during life over all these. Is it likely 
it is lessened now ? And if Satan is the cause 
of melancholy and depression^ has he not 
reason to fear now, from this new and power- 
ful advocate ? May all those suffering from 
distress of mind seek refuge for it in the in- 
tercession of our Saint. The saints are al- 
ways mankind's best friends. 

V. Faithful unto Death. 

Bl. Agnes' love for her neighbor increased, 
if possible, with her years. Neither the in- 
gratitude of man nor her own bodily infirmi- 
ties had any power to change her. Her love 
for the sick was peculiarly strong ; knowing 
from her own experience what corporal 
ailments were, she could sympathize more 
deeply with others. She cured innumerable 



Sister Josephine Mary, 1 8 1 

sick people by the sign of the cross, by apply- 
ing relics to them, and by her powerful 
prayers. Among the miracles she wrought we 
quote the following: A certain nun of Valen- 
cia had a cancerous ulcer. The doctor spoke 
of performing an operation. Another nun said: 
" I have a little cross which I received from 
Sister Agnes; lay it upon the sore and invoke 
her ! " The sick religious did so, and on the 
following day the doctor found no trace of 
the ulcer. It was on account of the many 
cures wrought by her that she was generally 
called, during her life time, The holy nun of 



As she herself said^ no day passed by on 
which she did not attend some sick person in 
spirit. Once, in choir, about two in the after- 
noon, she heard her own name called most 
piteously. She was much moved thereat, for 
she was very compassionate, and she fell into 
an ecstasy. Her guardian angel then led her 
to a place near Rome, where she saw an en- 
tirely unknown man lying at the point of 
. death. She assisted' him by her prayers until 
he died, and it was revealed to her that he 
would have to pass his purgatory in her cell. 
At four o'clock she arrived with this poor 



1 82 The Blessed Ones of i 

soul, and at five her guardian angel led her 
to another dying person in Alcira. This poor 
soul also was obliged to atone for the venial 
sins of a life-time by having his purgatory in 
her cell. 

When she herself was at the point of death, 
she carried help and consolation to another 
who was dying. 

She had the greatest compassion for the 
souls in Purgatory, by whom, like St. Catha- 
rine of Genoa, she was always surrounded. 
For their relief, she took upon herself many 
sufferings, and fasted and prayed. She also 
besought others to offer up Masses or cause 
them to be said for their repose. 

The devil once came to her in the form of 
a poor soul, begging her prayers, in order to 
ridicule her afterwards for the deception he 
had practised on her. She perceived this, 
and, from that time forward, in order to se- 
cure herself against fraud, she required every 
poor soul, on his arrival, to say: *^ Praised 
and glorified be the Most Blessed Sacrament 
of the Altar! Blessed be the holy and im- 
maculate conception of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary ! '* and in addition to this he must re- 
cite the Credo. He who has been a liar from 



Sister Josephine Mary, 183 

the beginning could not agree to such condi- 
tions. Having been thus worsted, he never 
again appeared to her under the form of a 
soul from Purgatory. 

These holy souls accompanied our Saint 
everywhere; in fact, they gave her no peace. 
Her sisters in reUgion once saw her habit 
glowing like a burning coal. They all thought 
- she was on fire^ and ran to help her. But it 
was only the flames that enveloped the poor 
souls. At one time there were two hundred 
souls from Purgatory in her cell, all atoning 
there for their past sins. 

At one time she was obliged, on account of 
her heart disease, to sleep in the cell of her 
superioress. Loud knocks were heard during 
the night, which alarmed the Rev. Mother. 
Agnes assured her there was no need to be 
troubled, as the knocking came from a poor 
souf, who, during life, had promised an alms 
to a convent, and had failed to keep her 
vow. 

Once she saw, in her cell, a soul entirely 
surrounded by fire. It was that of a woman 
who had a great deal to suffer because of her 
past intense love of dress. Agnes came to 
her assistance, — offering up holy Commun- 



1 84 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

ions and acts of mortification in her behalf, 
so that she was soon released. 

Several times she was told how many poor 
souls were delivered from Purgatory on the 
principal festivals. St. Michael once told 
her that on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul 
over three thousa^nd were released, and on St. 
Agnes' day twenty-four thousand were freed 
from the flames of Purgatory. The Blessed 
Virgin Mary gave thirty-three thousand as 
the number who winged their flight upwards, 
on the Portiuncula^ and Our Lord told her 
that on the Monday during the octave of 
Corpus Christi fifty thousand souls escaped 
from Purgatory. 

The poor souls were grateful to our Saint 
for her charity to them. They always awak- 
ened her at the proper time for rising, and 
were very useful to her in her work. When 
a nun failed in accomplishing some diflicult 
work, she called upon St. Agnes, who, with 
the help of the holy souls, performed the 
hardest task. 

On several occasions the ecclesiastical 
authorities examined whether there was any 
self-illusion or deception in our Saint or her 
works, and if she really remained humble 



Sister Josephine Mary. 185 

through all. In every case it was proven that 
all was true and genuine, and that she had 
never lost her baptismal innocence. 

The report of her sanctity had early pene- 
trated far beyond Spain, although she never 
really quitted her convent in the body. . Arch- 
bishops, bishops, members of Religious 
Orders, as well as the nobility, recommended 
their various affairs to her prayers, and our 
Saint, in this as well as in many other respects, 
bore a close resemblance to the holy Crescen- 
tia of Kaufbeuren. 

Some months before her death Our Lord 
made known to her the hour of her dissolu- 
tion. This filled her with intense joy, and she 
told several persons the good news. She 
could scarcely wait for the hour of her going 
home. Alas! how tenaciously worldlings cling 
to this life ! One dare scarcely mention 
death even to the sick. 

When her last hour arrived, Jesus, Mary, 
and Joseph, St. Agnes, and many other saints 
appeared to the holy Sister and surrounded 
her bed. A delightful odor, never before 
noticed, filled not only the cell, but the entire 
convent. On the feast of St. Agnes, January 
21, 1696, this pure and innocent lamb fell 



1 86 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

asleep at midday, between the hours of twelve 
and one. 

Many credible witnesses heard heavenly 
hymns being sung in the air, accompanied by 
tinkling instruments. Something similar was 
remarked at the death of St. Francis of Assisi, 
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Benedict Labre, 
and other saints. Sister Agnes died on a 
Saturday, at the age of seventy-one, and in 
the fifty-second year of her religious profes- 
sion. At her death, she appeared to two per- 
sons, gloriously adorned. 

Her body lay in state four days, for the 
crowds that visited it were immense. The 
virginal flesh remained quite flexible and gave 
forth a delightful odor. That year the rains 
were frequent and abundant; the weather 
was terribly stormy, and it was bitter cold on 
the day of her funeral. Notwithstanding all 
this, the concourse of people of every condi- 
tion was so great, that the large church could 
not accommodate the half of those who 
wished to attend. All the members of the 
Augustinian Convent of Jativa were present." 
Every one longed for a reHc of her; the 
clothing she bad worn, the planks which 
formed her bed, were cut up and carried away. 



Sisterjosephine Mary, 187 

From her holy body there exuded an oil 
similar to that which flows from that of St. 
Walburga of Eichstadt even at the present 
time. It was collected in glasses and in con- 
siderable quantities, and notwithstanding the 
intense cold of the weather, it remained in a 
fluid state. Divine service was held and ser- 
mons were preached, in memory of our Saint 
in various places, and the largest churches 
were not sufficiently capacious to hold the 
crowds of people who were present at them. 
The sermons, many of them, were delivered 
in the open air, for the solemnities took place 
in May, July, and August. Her first funeral 
oration was given by the rector. Dr. Philip 
Benavent of Beniganim, her confessor for 
many years and author of the Spanish life of 
our Saint, from whom we have given brief 
extracts. . 

Our space will not admit of our dilating at 
greater length on the glorious life of this new 
St. Agnes, nor on the innumerable miracles 
and favors effected through her intercession 
after her death. 

It is with the deepest regret and reluctance 
that the writer completes this imperfect sketch 
of so edifying, consoling, and wonderful a life. 



1 88 The Blessed Ones of 1888. 

Yes, truly is the Lord great in His saints ! O 
tender dove, thrice-blessed soul, noble friend 
of humanity ! pray to God for me and for all 
my readers ! 

What joy and happiness, one day to meet 
thee in heaven, to be associated with thee, 
and there, at last, before the throne of God, 
really to know thee ! 




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